The March of Time
by HyperionGM
Summary: As the stalemate in his war with the Freedom Fighters for control over Mobius continues, Eggman decides to upend the table, the chain of events he starts soon flies out of everyone's control as a mad scramble for the power to control the very fate of the planet begins. [Hiatus pending final decision on to re-write or put up for adoption.]
1. Witch Hunt

AN: Kudos to Soberan 123 for the idea and some brainstorming help with this.

In a nutshell, this is similar to my one-shot 'A Cursed Blessing' but now with an overarching plotline!

This will be a rather short chapter compared to my usual 1.5k+ words Standard due to it being a setup one.

* * *

"Uncle why are we out in these wastes?" Snively whined for the umpteenth time as they swept through the ruins of what used to be a major pre-xorda city in the Britannian mainland, having passed a long rusted and faded sign that said 'Los Angeles' at one time.

"Simple, we're hunting a witch who holds the key to ultimate power." Eggman stated as his Egg Walker marched through the ruins, plasma missile launcher swiveling on its mount. A dozen Egg Gunners and forty Dark Egg Legionaries under Lien Da's command followed them.

"Uncle you don't seriously believe those old texts? The Chaos Emeralds should be plenty."

"I agree with Snively for once, what could this Power of Kings offer you that the Emeralds could not?" Lien Da added.

"Simple my dear, short-sighted, subordinates. The power of Immortality… And the power to bind god to my will~." Eggman smirked.

"You can't be serious Uncle! This is ludicrous in the extreme!"

["Target detected in general area"] One of the Egg Gunners droned.

"Excellent, the Witch hunt begins, bring her to me, I don't care what condition she's in!" The mad scientist-emperor roared.

Lien Da and Snively could only stare in shock as Eggman and his robots opened fire on the ruins with all of their available weapons, blowing them apart building by building.

"UNCLE WHAT IS THIS MADNESS, YOU SAID YOU WANTED HER ALIVE!" The ever flighty Snively screamed as a series of retaliatory gunshots blew the brains out of one of the Echidna legionaries, causing an enraged Lien Da and her troops to join in as well, plasma, missiles, and bullets ripping apart concrete, brick, and drywall.

"SHUT UP AND DO AS I SAY OR I'M FIRING YOU AT HER NEXT!"

Snively squeaked and began using his own walker to start blowing apart their surroundings as well.

Another pair of legionaries and three egg gunners went down over the course of the next five minutes, infuriating Eggman.

"I'VE HAD ABOUT ENOUGH OF THIS! EGG KNIGHTMARES FLUSH THIS FOX OUT OF HER HOLE!"

Five machines reminiscent of the old RPI-209 Gloucesters scream into the square on their landspinners, firing their machine guns and rapid fire handheld plasma cannons into the building that was deemed the target's hiding place.

A rocket flew from the smoke struck one in its chaos drive, causing the machine to shut down and topple over as its primary power source went down.

"RRGAAAGGH! I WANT EGG FORT TWENTY-EIGHT TO HIT THIS DAMN BITCH WITH AN AIRSTRIKE!" Eggman screamed in a blind fury as he grabbed a radio handset from the console in front of him.

"UNCLE!"

"DOCTOR WAIT!"

"FIRE!"

The dull thunder of cannon fire reverberated throughout the area as the first shells shrieked in and blew the already badly damaged office building apart, obscuring everything in a cloud of smoke and dust.

* * *

Eggman peeked over his walker's windscreen as the smoke cleared, smiling to see a badly brutalized Mobian fox half buried in wreckage and stomped his walker up to her, Lien Da and Snively following.

"Uncle there's no way she could have survived that, her corpse is lucky to be this intact and only missing an arm and possibly legs!"

"Just give it a minute Snively, and Lien Da, please be a dear and slide her arm a bit closer to her. I want her to grasp the futility of her situation." Eggman ordered in the guise of a request.

After doing so Lien Da sat down on a nearby wall section. "I don't understand why you… WHAT THE HELL!" The Dark Egg Legion's main general yelped and scurried back, trembling as Eggman grinned madly while Snively shrieked like a small child as they watched the Vixen's arm began reattaching itself, one of her eyes opening as her mind overcame the physical pain of 'death' and subsequent regeneration at last.

"You… I knew you were after me the moment I spotted your mindless drones and pawns sweeping these ruins that truly became a city of angels. I know what you are after and you are not the first to have tried and no will you be the last, do your worst to me, I have faced agonizing torture from those even more desperate for such things since long before your ancestral line began, if anything it might actually not be boring for once." The immortal muttered nonchalantly despite her tattered, bloodstained clothes and numerous, rapidly healing injuries.

"I do recall you being human, I assume the Xorda's Genetic Bomb after finding itself unable to kill you simply mutated you instead?" Eggman smiled as he loomed large over her.

"Quit deflecting madman, I've met children who are less obvious in their intentions than you." The lime green vixen's golden eyes retained their defiant fire despite her monotone.

"Tsk, tsk, my dear, I wanted to be civil but I guess that will have to change. Snively, prepare my tools we have some _experimentation_ to do~." Eggman chuckled darkly as two Egg Swats picked up C.C. and dragged her to the gravity lift of the waiting Egg Carrier under heavy escort.

" _What have I gotten myself into…"_ Was the only thought that ran through Snively's head as he automatically carried out the task his uncle Julian Kintobor, more commonly known these days as Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, ordered him to do.


	2. All thats come before will come again

AN: And here's the next phase

Also, thar be spoilers well ahead for anyone who hasn't watched Code Geass nor have kept up with the Archie comics for a while as this story neglects the plotline of Genesis wave but keeps many of the elements from it and merges it into the pre-Penders legal bitchfest timeline.

* * *

"I'm telling you Sal, Lupe's pack reported a sizeable Egg Fleet detachment heading towards the ruins of Angeles, before they bombarded the hell out of the place and juiced out of there after dropping a grav lift to pick _something_ or _someone_ up." Sonic sighed as he tried to get Sally to approve of his risky but potentially rewarding operation.

"Sonic… Fine, the fact that he sent that many troops to one place and brought an Egg Carrier with a full battlegroup unnerves me, you've got my approval, take Mina, Tails, Mighty, and Ray with you on this mission."

"Why not Bunnie, Ames, or 'Tooine?"

"They're keeping Fiona under guard after she broke with Scourge, said your Moebian counterpart went nuts after finding something on a tablet he stole from Finitevus and killed the Egg Legionaries that came after them."

"Jeez, Fio was head over heels for the guy, whatever he's after must have spooked her pretty bad for her to outright come back despite the treason charges the Army and Council have levied on her." Sonic murmured to himself as he rubbed his chin, tapping his foot in thought.

"Then there's the rumors Eggman is cooking something up, Bill managed to transmit information about some new design he's begun producing but I can't make heads or tails of it, and neither can Rotor or Tails…"

"Good old Bill, stinks that he's caught up as a Dark Egg Legion commander by having been chosen by his own people for the job…"

"It works for us since he's a good double agent but whatever Eggman's working on he's only informed Lien-Da and Snively of the full implications so far, and both seemed pretty shellshocked in the meeting according to Bill…"

"So whatever it is it ain't good and we need to put a stop to it, sounds like a typical Egghead messing with things beyond anyone's understanding situation." Sonic waved off nonchalantly.

"Is it really _that_ common an occurrence that we're this jaded to such a possibility?" Sally muttered.

"Relax Sal, we'll get beat Egghead, crash his plans and be back by lunch." Sonic declared as he gave a thumbs up and his trademark smirk before dashing out of the room.

"I hope so Sonic… I hope so…" Sally sighed as she looked over the fragmentary information she and NICOLE had compiled whilst trying to decipher Eggman's intentions.

* * *

For her part C.C. had remained silent throughout the torture process, Eggman growing increasingly frustrated with both her lack of reaction and Snively's usage of twenty vomit buckets over the day.

"T… This is g… Going nowhere Uncle! We must try something else!"

"Good idea, I want you to go punch her as hard as you can… See what happens…" Eggman grinned as C.C. narrowed her eyes in the background, having already made Ivo's attitude bad by stating that 'straitjackets apparently haven't changed much in nearly twelve thousand years' when she was forcibly placed in her current garb.

"W… WHAT!?"

"Do… As… I… Say… You… Whelp…" Eggman ground out as he loomed over his nephew, grinning humorlessly.

"Y… Yes… Uncle…" Snively squeaked out as he walked over to the restrained Mobian Immortal.

"This will not end well for you, although I assume with a nose like that, nothing ever does."

"WHY YOU!" Snively let lose a fist and upon contact was assaulted by a series of visions and memories, seeing his uncle constantly looming over him, taunting him with his failings, the roboticization of his own father, and the reveal that the Iron Queen used him as a pawn as much as his own uncle did.

* * *

Reeling back Snively curled into a fetal position on the floor and babbled incoherently.

"How pathetic, the last time I intentionally did that to someone of note they went berserk and started shooting everything in sight." C.C. noted.

"Indeed, I assume that was a mental based defense of some kind, how trite." Eggman muttered while preparing something.

"Do you understand the futility of your goal yet? Of course not, why would a man like you be so easily dissuaded from power?"

"On the contrary, you've given me an _excellent_ idea~. You saw what happened to my brother via my worthless nephew yes?"

C.C.'s eyes narrowed. "What are you playing at?"

"Why it is simple my dear, I place you in a roboticization chamber and simply download your entire memory once the process is done, after which I either continue to utilize you as a robotic slave or just melt you down into molten slag.~" Eggman grinned madly at the fact that the code holder was now visibly panicked, either from the very real threat she could be killed via an obtuse method or the general unknown of roboticization and how it would react to her abilities.

"Impossible… You cannot just simply do that…" C.C. breathed, having figured all the units would have been scrapped following the Bem's global deroboticization procedure.

"Is it? I am a scientist, there is no impossible to me, just a problem that needs a solution found."

C.C. didn't respond to that, for the first time in centuries she felt real, primal, fear.

"FIRE UP THE ROBOTIZICER AND PREPARE THE COMPUTER BANKS FOR AT LEAST EIGHT TERABYTES OF DATA!" Eggman ordered to two of his ever hapless, but also two of his more competent, robotic minions, the androids Bocoe and Decoe who saluted and rushed off to the computer banks, idly chattering about the success rate and making a crack about his weight in the process.

"Yesss~. Soon the power of kings will be mine~." He purred.

["INTUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! HEDGEHOG PRIORITY ONE!"] An alarm blared throughout the base.

"GRAAAAAGHHH! ALL FORCES, KEEP SONIC AND HIS LITTLE FRIENDS AWAY FROM THE MAIN LAB! WE CAN'T HAVE THEM RUINING MY PLANS!" Eggman roared into a mic as the Roboticizer finally began to boot up.

["We estimate another ten minutes until the setup process begins doctor, you stopped developing new models after the Bem neutralized the Roboticization process so we're stuck with these rusted old junkheaps"] Bocoe reported.

"DAMN IT ALL, DOUBLE SECURITY ON THE LAB THEN, NO, TRIPLE IT! AND CLOSE THOSE HEAVY BLAST DOORS!" Eggman ordered as the lockdown began while C.C. began formulating a plan to try and escape in the confusion.

"AND GET AN EGG KNIGHTMARE UP HERE AT ONCE, I WANT THAT HEDGEHOG'S HEAD OR I WANT IT CRUSHED UNDERFOOT!"

* * *

Sonic smirked as he spin dashed through yet another E-1000 Unit, before sending an Egg Army trooper bowling into a Dark Egg Legionary and five other troopers with a kick while Mina, Mighty, and Ray were covering Tails while he and NICOLE brought security down.

"Too easy! Egghead's still got chumps working for him!"

["Some of these guys have new gear Sonic so be careful! I haven't seen anything like it even in GUN's arsenal!"] the AI Lynx cautioned as a volley of rifle fire split past Sonc, accompanied by a dull cough rather than the loud cracks normally associated with gunfire.

"They might be using electromagnetically propelled slugs!" Tails chimed in.

"So Egghead's going gunpowder free? Even the Overlanders didn't manage that during the war!" Mina chimed in as the mongoose ran rings around a squad of Egg Army troops led by an Overlander Legionary.

Suddenly the troops and remaining robots backed off as an audible whirr was heard down the massive hallway leading to the antechamber they were fighting in.

"What's that…" Mighty said uncertainly.

As if on que a 4-meter-tall mech raced into the room, the 'forehead' of the machine opening to reveal a factsphere that scanned the area with its improved sensitivity and prioritized Sonic as a target before closing again.

"What the hell is that…" Mina breathed.

"It's scrap that's what it is!" Mighty roared as the Armadillo leapt at the machine before the Egg Knightmare spin-kicked him away with surprising agility for its size.

"Aww crap! Ray go help Mighty, Mina cover Tails! I'll handle this chump!"

As the flying squirrel dragged Mighty back to cover and Mina took guard near tails, Sonic smirked at the machine.

"Given your size and lack of torso space I'd say you're another of Baldy Mc Nosehair's drones aren't you?" Sonice taunted.

The Egg Knightmare's response was to level the lance in its right hand and dash forward at Sonic, the hedgehog dodging with relative ease.

"Too slow!"

The machine whirled around and sprayed bullets from the pintle mounted machine gun under the front of the torso block, Sonic readily dancing around the gunfire.

"Wow, pretty fast on your feet there, but not as fast as me!" He jumped into the air as the Frame fired off its slash harkens.

"Okay I'll give you that, pretty useful trick there! But can it beat this?" Sonic spun into a homing attack as the Mech leapt into the air and avoided it.

"Woah! Maybe I need to give you a little more credit!" Sonic smirked and dodged a volley of plasma fire from the handheld rifle of the Knightmare after it landed.

"We've got the shields down Sonic!" Tails shouted, causing the Frame to turn and level all its ranged weaponry at him and Mina, the two panicking briefly before Sonic spin dashed through the distracted machine and landed in front of them.

"No sweat guys! Just try not to make yourselves targets like that again okay?" The blue blur smirked before smashing his way through the security doors and into the final stretch before the lab, dodging lasers, bullets, spikes, crushers, and the occasional missile.

* * *

Inside the lab Eggman was frothing at the mouth as he watched his hated nemesis approach on the security feeds. "FIRE UP THE ROBOTICIZER!"

["But Doctor we have no idea if it will even work!"] Bocoe warned.

["It is also highly unstable in the final setup phase due to the lack of maintenance!"] Decoe exclaimed in alarm.

" **JUST DO IT!** " Eggman screamed at them.

Before either could respond a familiar blue blur burst through the doors and sped to the Roboticization chamber, grabbing the dumbfounded C.C. and running off with her.

As the dust settled Bocoe and Decoe backed off and fled the chamber with Snively in hand as they knew full well how the Doctor would react.

Eggman twitched as he stared at the empty space before grabbing a blood stained surgical tool and repeatedly stabbing it into a security screen that held the frozen image of Sonic's stupid, grinning, face. " _ **GRAAAAAAAGGGHH! I! HATE! THAT! HEDGEHOG!**_ " He continued to smash the blank screen long after it had been shattered beyond any point of repair as he vented his rage. He had been so close he could have tasted victory had it been possible.

" ** _I WANT EVERYONE AFTER SONIC AND HIS LITTLE BAND! DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!_** " Eggman screamed into the PA system, sending the base into a new peak of frenzy as all available troops and robots sprang into action, even the most limited AI realizing how wrathful the doctor was at the moment.


	3. Calm before the Death Egg

AN: Holy mother of background lore Batman, as always, a thanks to Soebran 123 for helping brainstorm ideas.

Also this is the longest chapter I have ever written for this site so far... Huh, Neat.

Also the timeline is close to the Archie comics but different as this is not Mobius Prime, so we have things like no interdimensional Robo-Robotnik and Mina remaining semi-active as a reserve Freedom Fighter.

* * *

Sonic winced as he heard Eggman's enraged announcement whilst he, Tails, Mina, Mighty, and Ray fled through the halls of Eggman's base in Southwestern Northamer, their mysterious Vixen rescuee carried in Sonic's arms.

Initially she'd been rather dumbfounded by Sonic's sudden appearance, now…

"I request, once again, that you put me down and undo these restraints."

She was being rather annoying, although Sonic took it in stride.

"No can do, Egghead's goons will be on us in a second if we don't get far enough from the base." Sonic responded with a smirk.

C.C. remained silent after that as Sonic darted around gunfire, she'd heard of him and knew what he looked like but the sensation of moving at these speeds without the assistance of a machine was… Oddly exhilarating if she were to admit, perhaps this partially explained why he was such a carefree fool the vixen mused internally.

At some point though, this free spirited her would be forced to make a hard decision that would very well break him, when it came to junction could he make the right one? He'd already chosen duty over love once.

Ray flung Mighty at the closing blast door, the Armadillo smashing it open with his brute strength as they rushed out into the hot desert sun, armored vehicles, infantry, robots, and aircraft moving to cut them off.

"Baldy McNosehair is really cutting out all the stops for this one!" Ray quipped.

"Too bad he isn't cutting that atrocity of a Moustache while he's at it!" Sonic joked.

C.C. deadpanned further if that were physically possible, they were even more amateurish than the Kozuki group before Lelouch had rallied them into the core of the Black Knights.

But as they tore through the forces directly in front of them, it became clear that the stories of their combat prowess were on point, maybe even understated given how Mighty had just flung aside a _seventy-ton main battle tank_ that had gotten in his way.

Perhaps their unique mindset fed well into their combat style she mused.

By now the base was far behind them and they were running for the cover of a nearby forest to hide from the wandering eyes of the Egg Fleet and its swarms of combat aircraft and flying robots.

Setting C.C. down Sonic undid the restraints on her jacket allowing her the freedom of arm and leg movement once more.

"That is better… Sonic the Hedgehog I presume?" She questioned as she turned to face him.

"That's me, Sonic's the name, speed's my game!" He smirked and rubbed his nose in yet another of his trademark cocky poses.

"How quaint, a fool who is arrogantly foolish." C.C. montones. "What a novel concept."

Sonic simply shrugged, which inwardly led to C.C.'s mild annoyance, his carefree nature must make him thicker skinned than most, Lelouch would have at least bothered to quip back about something.

"I assume you're taking me back to New Mobotropolis." Even Britannia hadn't been _that_ conceited to name one city, let alone _two_ after themselves, the immortal questioned the logic of that, it was also so damn cliché it gave her a headache just thinking about it.

"Yeah, we wanna know why Egghead was throwing everything _and_ the kitchen sink at us to stop us from reaching you before you got Roboticized." Sonic said straight to the point.

"I will not tell you in the city proper, nor in the company of your AI, I cannot trust something that can be hacked into to keep secrets, no matter her resolve there will always be the risk of her security programs being compromised."

Everyone suddenly looked incredibly awkward as they remembered the Iron Dominion crisis whilst NICOLE lowered herself on the screen of the handheld datapad Tails was using so only her ears and hair were visible, Mina winced as remembered the lyrics she wrote for her next concert upon seeing NICOLE's response.

"Yeah, we'll try to accommodate that…" Sonic mumbled.

C.C. displayed no emotion as they turned and proceeded to the extraction point on foot.

* * *

Elias stared at a rather famous painting from the history of the House of Acorn as finished a visit to his father's chambers, depicting King Alexander with a Masked and cloaked individual, their species and even gender indeterminate, Elias honestly wasn't even sure they were a Mobian or even an Overlander, but the odds of humans outside Station Square or another similar city-state surviving to the beginnings of the Kingdom of Acorn were impossible as well.

"Father… You've never told me who this is with Alexander…"

"That would be the Masked Warlock, their name has been lost from the royal records sadly due to the sacking of Mobotropolis during King George's Folly several generations ago, it is told they were instrumental in helping Alexander create the Kingdom to unite the Mobian peoples under one benevolent rule." Max explained. "I've been meaning to tell you things about our family that I never got the chance to due to your isolation on Angel Island during the Great War and my subsequent banishment when Robotnik launched his coup…"

"Why not tell Sally though?" Elias asked.

"Only the reigning Monarch can be informed as per the deal made those many centuries ago, and I do not trust the council with this information, if it gets out we'll have problems worse than anything Eggman, Mogul or Naugus can do on our hands… And until you grow more of a backbone my son… I cannot trust you with it either. Nobody outside the reigning monarch and his queen must know of what we hid from the world."

"I… Understand father…" Elias sighed, reminded yet again of his own failings as a ruler.

"I assume you have yet another meeting with the Council…?"

"Yes."

"Then get to it! A King, even one stripped of his power, must not dawdle!" Max snapped, causing Elias to flinch at his father's sudden change in mood.

"I'll be going then." Elias turned and walked out. "It was nice to hear about some of our Family's history from you father." He said as he closed the door behind him, Max giving no indication he'd heard his son.

"Elias… You know your father has been struggling recently."

"I am aware mother… Doctor Quack says his physical and mental health deteriorates by the day, he doesn't trust most of his former advisors anymore let alone the council, and after Kodos, Naugus, and Robotnik I honestly cannot blame him."

Alicia sighed and patted her son on the back. "You have a meeting to attend about the Military's request to create new land units, a Navy and an Air Force to keep pace with GUN and the Eggman Empire."

"I am worried about Prower's militarization program, guns, blasters and other modern infantry equipment for the army is one thing, but adding additional modern weapons like artillery, fighter jets, guided missile destroyers and tanks is going to seriously unnerve the people and undo the goodwill he's earned, while I agree that safety is paramount, people are already wary enough that NICOLE could be spying on them inside their own homes and a few have already left for the United Federation as a result. If they see the Royal Army gearing up so fast they'll think we're on the verge of defeat against Eggman, or worse, a military dictatorship." Elias sighed.

"And on the other hand, I have father blaming me for not putting Amadeus and **half the city** in chains following the protest, we barely have enough prison space for the actual criminals as is and if I tried that I'd be facing an assured revolution from the rest of the city, potentially led by the freedom fighters, and the possibility the United Federation might decide a military intervention is necessary to restore order in their only major ally, on top of the threat Eggman poses, to say nothing of whoever _else_ is out there!"

"Amadeus and Rosemary only have the people's best interests at heart like you and your father, and while I agree that Max's preferred solution would have been too much but we can't just simply let people incite a revolt without punishment either." Alicia admitted. "There is no one good style leadership, because the problem lies in who's idea of where we should go and what we should do is the right one for the times. Just follow your gut and never let anyone tell you a decision you know is right was the wrong one." The former queen said as she walked back to Max's chambers.

"Thank you, mother, sometimes I wonder if the exact form of democracy we chose was the best one for our nation though, the Enerjak crisis and the takeover of Freedom HQ proved that point very harshly" Elias sighed before he straightened his suit and marched into the assembly chamber, nodding to Rotor and Charles who were already sitting at their places in the council whilst the two Royal Guardsmen flanking the door saluted as he entered and marched up to his place at the center of the table.

"Now before we begin, is there anything unexpected on the agenda?"

"Sally sent a detachment of Freedom Fighters to raid one of Eggman's bases, apparently Sonic saw the mad doctor himself there." Rosemary stated.

"What was he doing…"

"Mobian Experimentation apparently, he had a Roboticizer powering up when Sonic freed the hostage…" Charles added, his face hardening as he mentioned his creation turned monstrosity, a machine meant to save lives turned into a tool of enslavement.

"Wonderful… What is that madman planning…" Elias already felt sickened before knowing all the details.

"The details are being kept classified from anyone but the leadership of the Freedom Fighters, the highest ranks of the Royal Military, and the Royal Family, I asked Sally if she was serious and she gave me that look she has whenever she's not in the mood for redundant questions… Whomever Sonic rescued is one hell of a ticking time bomb…" Rotor added.

"On the note of time bombs, what of Fiona Fox, should we decide the charges to be arrayed against her this session?" Elias questioned, remembering her recent surrender to the Freedom Fighters.

"Treason, espionage, aiding and abetting enemies of the state, assault, and numerous counts of lesser crimes, mostly theft, trespassing, and destruction of public, private, and government property. She'll be lucky to escape with her head on her shoulders, previous rulers would already have executed her for a track record like that." Rosemary noted, the irony that her own husband would have faced the very first of those charges had the crown won out was not lost on Elias.

"Very well then, if there's no opposition to those charges we'll have them listed and sent to the Army pending whatever information she is providing on Scourge's activities." Elias announced.

"Fiona made her choice, it's up to the tribunal, Sally and Harvey Who to see if what information she brought us about Scourge's plans is worth granting her clemency." Rotor said with an audible note of venom in his tone, Fiona's betrayal had hit the Freedom Fighters close to home, and was one of the rare things that created a rift between Sonic and Tails.

"Then if we have no other business to attend let us begin the debate on the new military budget proposed by General Amadeus Prower." Charles announced as Rosemary sighed.

" _Amadeus, what are you thinking by expanding the military so fast and so soon… I worry that you overreact as much as the old King sometimes, unless someone has given you the idea that we need such things right now…"_ The Vixen thought as the debate quickly broke down into accusations and insults, mostly being flung between Hamlin and Rotor, the latter of whom was still a reserve member of the freedom fighters and represented their interests on the council while he and Tails finished the armor suit that would enable him to join the others in combat again.

Rosemary wisely keeping herself out of the debate to avoid being accused of bias in favor of her husband, only offering bits of input when directly spoken to.

" _Maybe the Council isn't the right solution… We can't get anything meaningful done together Democratically and Elias can't do everything alone either, especially without a working bureaucracy backing us up, the Freedom Fighters as a group, acting on their own accord have done more in a_ week _than the Council and Crown have in_ months _, as for Max, well he's not the leader he used to be since the Zone of Silence and even before then he was almost as indecisive and easily influenced as Elias, and with the Acorn line effectively ended due to Sally's refusal to take the throne and Elias marrying a commoner making any of his own children ineligible for the throne… That leaves one legitimate claimant…"_ Rosemary suppressed a shudder at the thought.

" _And I'd prefer a senile and dying King Max or Elias's infant step-daughter as our regent over Ixis Naugus claiming the throne as per the foolish deal Max made and proceeding to rule as a Tyrant for the rest of eternity… The only workable solution I can see is in the United Federation's libraries which might have information on a system that could work better for both the people and the crown if they contain surviving records and information on the pre-Xorda human governments… Push comes to shove we could even adapt their form of government, replacing the President with the King of course, at least until the time comes when the people desire the Monarchy to stop taking an active role in government."_ She mused internally, deciding to take a trip to Station Square after the council recessed, if she could find a solution that appealed to both the Monarchy and the Democratic faction more than the Council did, it could very well stave off an impending crisis.

And Rosemary didn't want the nation she loved to fall into a costly civil war that would make it prey for any of the lurking powers that wanted it in their grasp, like the Eggman Empire.

* * *

Sonic, Tails and Sally stared at C.C. dumbfounded as they sat in the shack outside the city walls that had been hastily picked out for their conversation.

"You really expect us to believe what you just told us!?" The squirrel exclaimed as she got up and started to pace, trying to process what she had just been told.

"It is up to you to believe what I say or not." C.C. stated simply.

"This is too much; the Chaos Emeralds are one thing but this… You're telling me this 'power of kings' would give Eggman the ability to kill gods and eventually become immortal!?"

"Like we didn't have enough of that second thing when he Roboticized himself while we went after and destroyed an android double." Sonic chimed in.

"It can do so much more, hence why it must be kept only to those who do not abuse it, anyone else cannot be trusted."

"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely… And with a madman like him after it… I don't even wanna think of what he'll do if he gets it" Tails murmured eliciting a nod from C.C.

"The caveat is that the power of the kings condemns one to a life of solitude, feared and hated by those who do not understand it and reviled because of those who abuse it. Any plan of his undoubtedly involves mass control of the global population" The vixen stated solemnly.

"Sounds like you speak from personal experience." Sonic observed.

"Quick of mind as he is of feet, perhaps you aren't as dumb as you seem."

Once again Sonic refused to take the bait, although Tails did look indignant at the continued insults.

"So, what we're dealing with is that Eggman is planning to do something insanely stupid that could kill everyone on the planet or something." Sally muttered as she wiped sweat of her brow.

"Indeed."

Sonic shrugged. "I guess this is just another day at the office eh Sal? What? I'm trying to lighten the mood?"

The other three stared at him in full deadpan.

"So… I was going to go get Pizza anyways…" Sonic said whilst trying to change the subject, causing C.C. to smirk. "What do you guys want?"

"Pizza.~" The vixen purred in a manner that caused Sonic's stomach to curl into a ball and tell his brain that a great disturbance had been sensed in the Pizza supply.

"Oh no… Sonic already eats a small mountain of Chili Dogs per day as is…" Sally said in pure horror as she too realized what was coming while Tails remained mildly confused.

C.C. only smiled at them.

Sonic shivered. "How much Pizza do you want…" He knew he was going to regret the answer he got, given he was the one going to pick all of it up.

"Funny you should ask.~" The Vixen said as she grinned impishly.

* * *

Amadeus Prower sat down at the desk and turned on a computer voice call, having just received word about the Council's decision. "The budget has been passed with much reservation. I don't know why you feel it is relevant but if my brother trusts you so implicitly then I'll do as you request for now."

"We'll stay in contact then, while I am not exactly fond of the exact choice of democratic system you made, I understand the circumstances behind it."

"The council system was the best Elias and I could do on such short notice, and the democratic system might end up replacing the Monarchy regardless of any compromises as Sally refuses to take the crown and any of Elias's children are ineligible due to having commoner blood, a taboo I honestly can't understand anymore given how 'noble breeding' tends to produce abnormally high birth defects due to the small gene pool, although I wouldn't trade Miles for the world. Anyways, hopefully Rosemary can replace the Council with something more permanent in time, one that has a place for the Monarchy if it survives long enough given the current state of affairs. So, if there's nothing else for us to talk about I should probably start on this paperwork."

"Indeed, I'll inform you if anything else comes up that you need to be aware of." The voice responded, sounding thoughtful about some of what Amadeus told them.

"I look forward to it." Amadeus sighed and ended the call as he folded his hands behind his head, relaxing in the solitude of his office.

"Interesting times are ahead aren't they…"

* * *

Omake:

" **HOW MUCH MONEY ARE THEY ASKING FOR SO THEY CAN AFFORD PIZZA!?** " Rotor screamed as he stared at the budgetary request NICOLE had just sent him, interrupting the now calmed debate over the military budget as it ran into the ninth hour, causing everyone to groan.

Rosemary slammed her face against the table, mumbling something while Charles could only twitch his eye as Sonic sent him a message about bare basics of the circumstances.

"How can one Mobian eat so much Pizza…" He breathed.

"Elias! Tell your sister that the budget is not for hosting parties!" Hamlin exclaimed.

"It's one Mobian who's eating all of it, even Sonic can't down Chilidogs _that_ fast and he's the world champion in Chilidog eating." The King muttered as Charles showed him the message.

"What…" Was the only thing Hamlin could muster as Charles showed him the video as well.

In Freedom HQ, the assembled Freedom Fighters watched as C.C. finished her two hundredth slice of Pizza and snuggled her Cheese-kun plush, which NICOLE had replicated for her with nanites.

"How is she not gaining weight?" Amy whispered to Mina, who simply stared enviously.

" _Not bad, could use some more cheese though"_ The immortal thought as she picked up another piece.


	4. Mayhem over Mobotropolis

AN: Yes I'm still alive.

And yes, there was a plot related reason Fiona was mentioned in the previous chapter beyond Scourge.

EDIT: Mild update to clarify some events that in retrospect were poorly explained.

How the hell I missed those line breaks I have no idea.

 _Sigh._ Another update to better work the Mark Nemo in.

* * *

C.C. kicked her feet idly as she sat in Freedom HQ eating Pizza, Tails working on T-Pup's internal circuits as they waited for Sonic and Sally to return from Mina's second concert, Freedom HQ's relative isolation from the city providing them with a measure of security that the immortal enjoyed.

"So, how long have you been around?" The Kit asked.

"Longer than Mobians have existed." C.C. sighed, she hadn't expected them to figure out her immortality so quickly, but between Sonic's sharp eye and NICOLE's scanners... Sally wouldn't take Silence for an answer she felt was vitally linked to Eggman's plans, especially when she'd already outed the fact Eggman might be after immortality by extension of whatever he planned for the 'Power of Kings'.

So far they had no inkling about Code, nor about the true nature of the collective unconscious.

Which suited her fine, the less trying to get it the better, one madman was enough for C.C.'s taste.

"Wait…"

"I was human before the genetic bomb was deployed." She clarified.

"Oh…" Tails let the conversation drop before starting a new one.

"So you have any idea what those new mechs Eggman is deploying are? I sent some stuff to my dad and Rotor but when they asked GUN everyone clammed up."

"They're Knightmare Frames, based on technology from before the Xorda attack, although using a different power source."

"Probably chaos drives, they're basically lower output artificial chaos emeralds. Cheap and easy to manufacture if you have the knowhow and equipment." Tails mused. "Who used these 'Knightmare's anyways."

"The Holy Britannian Empire was the primary user Knigtmare Frames, at its peak… It controlled the entire surface of the planet."

"What happened to them…?" Tails asked hesitantly, already figuring a few possible answers.

"The Xorda." C.C. stated simply.

The conversation hung in awkward silence, awkward for Tails as C.C. seemed indifferent.

["Tails?"] Sonic's voice cracked over the speakers.

Jumping up and rushing over the Fox clicked the button to open the two-way link. "I read you Sonic!"

["You two get over here ASAP! Ixis Naugus is in the city!"] Sonic chattered without missing a beat.

C.C.'s face hardened while Tails's turned to one of mild panic.

"We should get to the Tornado…" He mumbled before running off, C.C. following him.

C.C. sat down in the rear seat while Tails fired up the engine, having kept it warmed up for an emergency.

"Why'd he ask for both of us to come… Wouldn't it be safer for you here?" Tails realized as he taxied the Tornado down to the end of the airstrip.

"Only if one of you is guarding me. Eggman knows where you live after all."

"Oh right… That makes more sense now…"

The Biplane rumbled into the sky and headed off in the direction of New Mobotropolis.

"I'm not even gonna say it because someone has already jinxed us…"

"Ah yes, that infamous phrase…" C.C. mumbled more to herself than Tails as she focused on something Tails wasn't looking at due to his focus on piloting. "I believe it already has…" She pointed past Tails at something in the distance while the latter gaped in horror upon gazing in the direction the immortal was pointing in as dozens of Egg Fleet vessels including assault landing ships converge on the location of New Mobotropolis. The largest concentration anyone had seen since the most recent Enerjak had blown up the main force some time back.

"Oh boy… Maybe we should call GUN for some help…" Tails gulped.

* * *

Sonic stared incredulously as the council bickered endlessly, all Rosemary had done mere seconds ago was point out that the constitution never said the King, or Queen should that be the case, be an Acorn to qualify as ruler, given that nobody had paid Naugus any heed for a while this wasn't seen as vital, and then Rotor and his uncle had flipped out on her.

"Will all of you snap out of it! Naugus is clearly using his magic on all of us!" Sonic had initially thought it was only on the council but he himself had been growing agitated more easily than usual.

This prompted a statement about NICOLE from Dylan and then the council exploded into bickering again.

Sonic admitted internally his own comments didn't help either, but he was too aggravated to say so in front of a bunch of adults who were behaving far worse than _actual_ children who had thrown themselves into the line of fire against Eggman time and time again.

"Don't you think the King should have a say in this matter?" Naugus smoothly questioned, causing Elias to flinch before building his resolve.

"Naugus… If I give you the crown do you promise to respect the council…?" Elias asked.

Sonic snorted, any guarantee Naugus made was only viable as long as it benefited him.

"I think that's about enough of that! I'm putting an end to this before it gets out of hand" He snarled.

"Sonic stop!" Elias roughly grabbed the hedgehog's arm. "We have a chance to end this peacefully."

"Why!? After all the fighting to hold the crown, why give it up so easily!?"

"Listen to me, Naugus is too powerful, the people are jumpy, we deal with this peacefully and figure it out later, besides, Naugus has had time to plan this, you continue this and previous victories be damned he'll turn most of the city against you and the rest of the Freedom Fighters, moreover this isn't like you, even with Eggman you're more restrained." Elias stated.

Sonic stared at the smirking Ixis Naugus and then over at the council, looking at his Uncle's pleading eyes and the disapproving looks of Penelope, Hamlin, and Dylan, while Rosemary's head injury was tended to by one of the Guards and the repentant looking Rotor, the Walrus had punched her following the statement about the constitution's provisions, probably prompted by Naugus's magic to remove possible obstacles to his rule, any internal divisions between the Freedom Fighters and the Prower family was beneficial to him due to how influential they were in the government and military, not to say how Tails would react.

As much as he wanted to wipe that smug grin of Naugus's face, he had to admit, Elias was partially right, things were getting way out of hand. "Tsk… Fine, but if he tries anything I'm coming down on him _hard_." Sonic handed the Sword back to Elias as the ground shook violently.

"What the! Is this your doing too!" Sonic accused.

"No, and this is no quake, something far away shook the ground with great force as it emerged or moved…" Naugus stated.

"Do you think it could be Eggman…" Elias questioned.

"Probably. Alright let's forget the dispute for the moment while we figure out what is going on. Naugus bring down that wall so we can see what's going on outside."

"Don't order me around rodent!" Naugus snarled as he removed a bit of crystal with his magic and walked out with Sonic and a couple guardsmen, the hedgehog bickering with him the entire way.

Opening the main doors, they all looked up and stared in shock at the looming form of the Death Egg mark II.

Inside the council chamber Elias and the still recovering Rosemary stared in mute horror.

"He's done it, he's rebuilt the Death Egg…" Rotor breathed.

* * *

Outside the Freedom Fighters, minus Tails, and Geoffrey stared at the Death Egg Mk II as it hovered over the city, bickering lightly while formulating a plan after Sally managed to get Naugus to agree to help, the wizard having literally leapt into the sky to try and engage it, only to find his magic suppressed by the power rings integrated into the fortress's hull.

"If Tails were here we'd have the Tornado to help out…" Mina murmured.

"There's no time, we need to board the Death Egg ASAP!" Sonic responded.

"Sonic's right, Mina, get Rotor and go help the army stem whatever ground forces Eggman is deploying, the rest of us will go aboard and stop the madman ourselves." Sally announced.

"Yeah, I think the army is going to need a lot of help…" Mina stuttered as she pointed out the encroaching Egg fleet, which was moving to attack the airfield and defense facilities in order to better protect the Death Egg.

* * *

"Doctor the estimated losses for this are expected to be quite high…"

"That's quite alright, for this, these are acceptable losses." Eggman said as he grinned madly.

"Doctor! The Tornado!" Decoe announced as he manned a Console while Bocoe slapped away Cubot again.

Eggman's face contorted as he stared at the feed of C.C. and Tails in the biplane, dodging a group of interceptors before he grinned as he remembered something.

"Lien-Da?"

"Yes sir…?"

"Do we have any Egg Grapes left?"

Lien-Da looked between the Screen and the Doctor before rapidly realizing his idea, as sickening as it was. "Yes, we have a few units left along with the standard construction template."

"Good, hook a single sub-pod up to a set of power rings, enough to supercharge someone. Just as a backup plan"

"It'll take time to prepare but we can do that sir."

"Good, do it."

Lien-Da nodded as she gave the orders discreetly while Eggman took charge of the combat operations.

* * *

Amadeus fired another shot down the hallway of the Royal Army's HQ nailing an Egg Gunner in the head unit, disabling the machine

He fired again, covering an MP dragging a wounded staff officer to safety, once again cursing his lack of depth perception, his first kill had been pure luck rather than aim.

More Egg Gunners continued to spill in.

"My Kingdom for a modern army!" someone shouted as Amadeus reloaded and fired his pistol down the hall once more, many reserve soldiers were still using swords, maces, crossbows and other forms of medieval weaponry, utterly useless at range and against more modern robotic opponents without serious changes that simply weren't as viable as simply getting guns as well, it had been the extensive usage of powerful, and dangerous, homemade bombs that had let them disable Overlander armored vehicles during the great war, and only Ixis Naugus's magic had kept the Overland from simply carpet bombing Old Mobotropolis into a massive crater or blasting it with superheavy siege artillery.

If only they had modernized sooner, Amadeus thought, preserving nature by not adopting modern weaponry was a good principle, but they couldn't exactly do that when the Royal Army was little more than a speedbump for practically everyone who threatened the Republic of Acorn.

That'd change. Amadeus promised. A rocket flashed by him and blew up down the hallway.

If they survived that is.

* * *

Amy dodged a rocket fired by an Egg Knightmare, the machines were swarming the area around the airfield and just generally shooting everything that moved.

She tossed a hammer into one of them, noting that its ability to track her degraded when she hit it in the dome at the center of the forehead.

"That's gotta be the main sensor!" Amy exclaimed.

"Good going Ames!" Mina shouted as she sped around another one while Bunnie opened fire with her arm cannon while it was distracted.

"We're still gonna need a bit more firepowah even with that knowledge hun!" Bunnie yelled.

"Sacrebleu! Zis is getting out of hand!" Antooine yelped as he ducked under a slash harken.

"We just need to get to the Freedom Fighter Special!" Sally shouted as Geoffrey turned an Egg Gunner's upper torso into crystal before Bunnie shot it.

A hail of gun and laserfire rained down, distracting the robots, which were destroyed by a strafing run from the recently arrived Tornado.

"We'll hold them here!" A Soldier shouted as he and a squad of troops moved up. "Get up there and take Eggman down!"

The Army, unlike the people, knew just how dangerous Eggman was and how needed NICOLE was as nobody beyond her, Tails, and Rotor had the technical know-how to keep the city's advanced defense systems in line.

"Alright, lets go! Amy! Antooine! Bunnie! You take Geoffrey and the Special!" Sally ordered as the group rushed to the Freedom Fighter Special, the Tornado swooping down to pick up Sally and Sonic the two jumping on the wings as C.C. nodded at them while she worked the plane's EW suite to prevent the Egg fleet from swatting them out of the sky with AA guns or Missiles.

The Tornado rocketed up towards the Death Egg, dodging fire from defending airships, flying robots, fighters, and the massive air fortress itself.

"We're out of countermeasures and the EW suite won't hold for much longer." C.C. stated calmly.

"Then we'll have to go in the old-fashioned way!" Sonic shouted as they sped towards a docking port on the port side of the airship. The hedgehog jumping into the air and launching a homing attack into the weak point, Sally jumping in as the Tornado passed by.

"Alright it's just you and me C.C." Tails said.

There was no response in return.

"C.C.?" He turned to see the rear seat empty.

"Oh, for crying out loud… And she calls Sonic foolhardy…" Tails sighed and rolled the Tornado to avoid a head on with an Egg Fleet Fighter that had overtaken him and come back around.

He was seriously considering just building a jet next time.

Maybe with a walker mode and a high-speed cart mode integrated in it.

* * *

Deep in the New Mobotropolis Detention Center, Fiona looked up as the room shook again.

"What the hell is going on out there…"

An explosion rocked the center, collapsing the main entrance, the sounds of battle and sirens were now audible to the imprisoned vixen.

Fiona curled into a ball as she realized what was going on, regrets about everything she'd done surfacing.

She'd betrayed her friends, her nation, her planet, and just about everyone else she could betray really and for what?

Power? The love of someone as unstable as Eggman? Survival?

A section of ceiling in the hall began to crumble and most of the lights died, leaving Fiona in the red glare of emergency lighting

And now she was going to die alone, buried under rubble, nobody would bother searching for a traitor like her until long after she'd died of starvation or more likely asphyxiation, that's if the collapsing structure didn't crush her first.

" _Maybe I can change that?"_ A voice whispered after the latest explosion related rumble faded.

Fiona looked up to see a white and very primitive looking doll sitting there, a birdlike sigil on its 'head'.

And no sign of how it got there in the first place, which set off Fiona's gut instincts that someone had placed it there and teleported away.

Using a warp ring for long enough tended to give someone that kind of sense.

"How…" She asked as she sat up.

" _Getting here or the talking? Either way it doesn't matter, but I have an offer for you. One that benefits both of us"_

"I know enough about Mammoth Mogul and what he did to Tails, Mina and Mighty, to know this offer has a price tag I might not be able to afford." Fiona said, narrowing her eyes.

" _Well the alternative is death, do you really want to die, alone, in a cell?"_ The doll questioned as the ground shook yet again, dust falling from the ceiling.

Memories of her imprisonment by Eggman during his Robotnik days resurfaced, how the only indication she was even remembered was a SWATbot or Robian bringing food to her three times a day, how Sally left her, Mighty and Ray to rot, and how nobody bothered to come back for them, the other two eventually breaking free while she escaped in the confusion.

"No…"

" _Be wary that the power of kings will condemn you to a life of solitude, but then again, I guess someone like you is used to being a pariah."_

The ceiling above Fiona began to crumble, the guards having long abandoned their post, and prisoner to their fate, probably feeling a traitor was worth less than their own hides even if they risked a court martial for it.

The Vixen stared at the doll, accepting one fact about herself in the process, her own survival was paramount over anything else. "I accept your contract!"

" _Then let's get out of here shall we?"_

The Geass sigil on the Doll's head glowed as the contract was made.

Fiona's own left eye glowed with the symbol of Geass in turn as the complex totally collapsed under the bombardment of the Egg Fleet.

* * *

"The Prison complex just went down!" Mina shouted into her radio.

"Mon Dieu… Even Fiona does not deserve zat!" Antooine responded as he and Bunnie swerved the Freedom Fighter Special to give Tails a shot at the automated VTOL gunship chasing them, still trying to get close enough to deploy Amy and Geoffrey into the Death Egg Mk II.

Suddenly, a swarm of six slash harken-like projectiles whizzed out of the rubble, each piercing an Egg Knightmare through the power core as _something_ burst from the ruins of the detention center.

Everyone gaped at the newly emerged Knightmare Frame, Mina tensing as she wondered whose side it was on.

* * *

Inside the 'cockpit' of the Mark Nemo, Fiona grinned ferally.

"Time for some real payback for all the pain you caused me Eggman!"

" _These guys look like Gloucesters, but they're just mindless drones, though given how some Britannians were if I was told correctly, that's actually an upgrade…"_

"Enough talk, let's crack us some Eggman."

" _That was so horrible it hurt just thinking about it."_

"Blame Sonic, he's the one who comes up with these."

" _Can we just smash these metal dolls already?"_

"I thought you'd never ask. These drones have no place in the future anyways." Fiona smirked as her Geass showed the temporal threads of the machines cut off in various manners.

Then the nanite-born Knightmare drew its Katana and leapt at the closest cluster of Robots.


	5. Mechanized

AN: So a bit of introspective before we get into the action.

No I'm not writing out the reset world's events for the first Genesis wave, because it'd interrupt the flow of the story so much and it would basically be the same as in the comics just with C.C. added.

So it's pointless

Also I find it odd that Metal Sonic, even after suffering damage in a fight against Sonic is so easily destroyed in an explosion Eggman and Sonic readily survive with relatively minor injuries.

Which sensibly means the backfire from the World Roboticizer flooded into other chambers around the firing mechanism.

Maybe Ian Flynn could have cleared that up when he wrote NICOLE's statement? Or maybe she didn't want Sally to worry about the possibility Sonic could get roboticized too... Perhaps someone should ask Flynn about that...? _Shrugs_

Friendly reminder that if you think Sonic Adventure and SA:2 Eggman is as cold and dark as he gets, Archie Eggman makes those iterations look warm and cuddly in comparison.

* * *

"Director… About the situation in New Mobotropolis." A man wearing a uniform based on that of the old Britannian OSI reported as he marched into a rather simply decorated office.

"And?"

"There's an anomaly."

"I am aware of the irregular contract. The convergence it made with the elevator was different enough to enable me to sense it. Geass should not be able to create physical constructs such as Knightmares via contract nor interact with the Physical to any meaningful degree, which means a non-native code from another Zone or even universal cluster where it is innately possible, entirely likely given the presence of warp rings and star posts in our own zone, let alone the countless others, or someone has done experimentation in the past with Chaos energy, which can manipulate the Physical. Also equally likely, if not more so."

"If it is the latter it'd either be the Knights of Albion or the Ixis Wizards, we have no idea what Mogul and Naugus know nor what the Echidnas were capable of due to the poor record keeping of the time and the loss of many of the kept records during the forgotten war." The Officer suggested.

"A problem, Mogul plays the long game, which means he is a problem for later unless he is stirred into action by some outside source. And as for the gestalt wizard… Send a team to eliminate Naugus, we can put democratically elected candidates in our pocket should the Monarchy fail but not an Ixis Wizard. Continue monitoring everywhere else, if we play our hand too soon, Eggman will crush us. We aren't as militarily strong as him or GUN due to our focus on covert actions. Oh before I forget, send extra forces to bolster our raid teams, once we know the situation with the Death Egg we'll begin final preparations for phase zero."

"As you command director." The Officer turned and walked out leaving the director to scratch the chin of his mask.

"It was so much simpler when Britannia was around."

He sighed and clicked on a private comm. "M.M. I want you to keep a closer eye on the situation in Albion, if that Tasmanian Devil does anything, subdue or eliminate him."

["As you wish director."]

He leaned back in his chair after turning off the communications.

"Is that madman Ivo planning a genesis wave event like Ziona tipped us off about his prime counterpart doing before the Prime Zone went silent? And even if he can't contact an alternate Wily, the possibilities of _who else_ he could contact being nearly endless make that knowledge uncomforting."

The director shook his head, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

Nothing to do now but wait.

And trust the Freedom Fighters could stop the Madman.

* * *

"Why did you follow us?" Sally questioned as C.C. caught up with her and Sonic.

"An extra set of eyes and arms never hurts to have in hostile territory."

"She's right ya know Sal."

"If I asked for your support Ogilvie I'd have stated that in the first place." C.C. intoned.

"Alright how many times do I have to say I'm sorry about the age crack for you to let that go?"

"When I decide how many times is enough, or when it stops amusing me."

"Both of you shut it!" Sally yelled as they walked up to a lift.

"Oh hey an elevator, I keep forgetting those every time I enter one of Egghead's bases."

The look C.C. shared with Sally was best described as 'Is he serious'.

["Why Hello there you miserable rat. I would like to commend you on keeping your stubbornness when fighting the dominion, and smashing your way into my defenses to steal something I had gone to great lengths to acquire."] Eggman said via the speakers.

"I hardly consider myself an object." C.C. snarled under her breath.

"Well, hey there Eggman, too chicken to come greet us in person and get your butt whooped?"

["On the contrary, I want to know if it is _you're_ the one who can handle a fight."]

On que a massive Silver Sonic Robot breached through the elevator doors.

"Oh sweet! It wouldn't be a Death Egg without a Silver Sonic to fight!" Sonic said with a disturbing amount of glee.

"That thing's way bigger than the one from station square!" Sally squeaked as C.C. stared in a mixture of shock, partially at the brazenness of the machine, and partially at Sonic's reaction to a killer robot intended to _end his life_.

"Are you kidding? That thing was a _joke_ compared to the original, _that one_ nearly turned me into ground beef!"

"I was wrong, he _is_ insane…" C.C. breathed as Sonic clashed with the machine.

["He's putting on quite the show! Isn't he Princess?"]

"Quit stalling for time Eggman!"

[Let him have his fun, you're the one who made all of this possible by not putting me down when you had the chance, a weakness you got from your father. Even Snively of all people actually got the balls to try and kill me, even if it was just a bioroid using my DNA in the end. Moreover, every bit of suffering I've inflicted could have been avoided had your father not taken in that poor overlander _war criminal_ all those years ago."]

Sally began shaking angrily, C.C. placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I cannot say what your reasoning was, but he's oversimplifying it to get in your head. I've seen people make mistakes when angry that cost them dearly. Do not let him goad you into making one."

["Ah yes, this was fun but my weapon is charged!"] Eggman taunted with sickening glee.

"We don't have time for this C.C.! Sonic! Come on!" Sally shouted as Sonic fought Eggman's new 'toy'.

"Right."

"Little busy with 'tiny' here, I'll catch up later!" Sonic shouted

The two women sighed before they rushed down the hallway.

"Nicole, where is Eggman broadcasting from?" Sally asked the AI via her handheld as they entered the next room.

C.C. heard a whirring noise and spun around to see a sentry gun pop out of the wall.

["Ah-ah. That's far enough for you Princess, I'll have Silver Sonic collect your friend here once he's done with the rodent."]

"SALLY! GET DOWN!" C.C. screamed as the report of the Sentry gun's autocannons cut off any response.

* * *

"Sally!?" Sonic shouted before getting clocked by Silver Sonic's fist.

Recovering and dodging Sonic rushes down the hall to where they went, finding C.C. lying against the wall, wincing and bleeding badly as she grabbed her severed arm.

And Sally's destroyed goggles and limp, devastated form.

"Sal…" He whispered as slumped to his knees.

Then everything went white.

* * *

When he came to, Sonic blinked before remembering everything that had happened as he stared down Silver Sonic Mk 3, promptly ignoring the Robot and dashing down the hallway, hoping he wouldn't be too late with the ten second rewind, the clunking behind him indicated that Eggman had upgraded the design's speed.

Rushing down the Hallway he easily scooped up Sally and C.C. each in one arm, before dodging the turret, which began shooting at Silver Sonic instead, the robot turning on the autocannon as it chipped away at its armor plate.

An explosion behind them indicated that one or both had been destroyed soon after.

"What's the matter for you two? Too much awesome condensed into one moment?"

"I question how you knew the turret was there." C.C. mumbled as she held onto Sonic, more to avoid being left behind than any real threat of injury.

* * *

Inside the activation chamber for GENESIS Eggman pressed the button only to find nothing happened.

"WHY. ISN'T. IT. WORKING!?" He screamed as he slammed the button repeatedly.

"SNIVLEY! WHY ISN'T THE COSMIC RESET BUTTON RESETTING THE COSMOS?!"

"I… I… I… Don't know Uncle! It's just… Not working…"

" **RRRRRRAAARRRGGGHHH!** HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ROBOTIZE A COMPLETELY HELPESS AND REBOOTED WORLD IF IT'S NOT HELPLESSLY REBOOTED!?"

"Don't you mean Roboticize Uncle?"

" **SHUT UP!** " Eggman snarled.

"And I was so close! And then that stupid hedgehog…!"

"…Hedgehog…" The wheels in Eggman's head turned as he began to remember.

"Of course the Chaos is the constant… I remember now… Stupid Golden Rodent… Even that witch was there, albeit slightly more aggressive and more physically able than I figured she'd be…" Eggman said after calmly pushing up his glasses without missing a beat.

He promptly jumped into the Eggmobile while giving Snively orders regarding phase two.

Chaos Constant or no, Sonic wouldn't beat him this time, not when he was already this far.

* * *

"Seems like a lot of power being directed to a chamber below decks…"

["Security is taking time to breach, I have to keep adjusting my attack programs to compensate for variables in their barriers."] NICOLE reported.

"Then we'll need to go down there and check it out."

"Let me do a 'hidden cannon inspection' first!" Sonic said before glancing around the various plates that made up the hallway.

"You're getting unusually paranoid, and this is me saying that after only knowing you for literally a couple weeks. This wouldn't have anything to do with what that wave was." C.C. monotoned as Sally glanced at them in confusion.

"Yeah, it's a long story but it'll knock your socks off Sal." Sonic said as he acknowledge the princess.

"I thought that phrase died with the Mobosaurs." C.C. jabbed.

"You'd know, you were there to see it happen." Sonic taunted back, earning a glare.

"Knock it off you two." Sally ordered as they walked into a sizeable chamber.

"What the hell is this…" She swore.

"It's my world roboticizer!"

Sonic laughed. "When the Bem de-roboticized everyone they made it permanent."

"He wouldn't build one if he didn't have a plan to make it useable…" C.C. muttered as she narrowed her eyes and frowned, her ears folding back warily.

"Quite observant my dear witch. That flash you saw reset _everything_. And not only will _everything_ be roboticized… Remember what happens when something already mechanical gets put through a roboticizer without proper care." To illustrate his point a screen displayed a simulation of Station Square, everything electromechanical began exploding, from cell phones and cars to the entire power grid of the city, the ships docked in port, every airliner in the vicinity, and the nuclear warheads stockpiled at the GUN base.

All three of the Mobians stared in dumbfounded shock, realizing rapidly what that would do globally.

"Dad…" Sonic breathed, his hands trembling with rage.

"Bunnie… Nicole…"

The horror continued to set in as the implications piled up.

"Doesn't this bother you that you'll kill most of your soldiers doing this in addition to your robotic army!?" Sally yelled.

"Not in the slightest, their lives are only worth something so long as I have use for them." Eggman said coldly.

* * *

C.C., as jaded as she was, was horrified by the sheer callousness of his plans, there was no comparison she had seen before, Schneizel's plan to use Damocles as a tool of terror had a benevolent purpose, as twisted as using WMDs to force peace on unruly nations was.

Zero requiem was mostly intended to make people hate Lelouch to unify them in the name of peace, the irony was that _Nunnally_ was doing the exact same by _willingly_ striking cities with the FLEIJAs aboard Damocles.

Even _Charles_ had good intentions, as admittedly boldly horrifying as his plan was.

And she knew that plan by heart.

But this… _This was going too fucking far_. She'd never figured he would go so far as to be willing to kill _tens, if not hundreds of millions_ , including his own troops, just to roboticize a couple million people.

God save Mobius should he gain access to C's world if this plan failed.

Because everyone else who could would be dead or at his mercy.

* * *

"I NEVER SHOULD'VE SHOWN YOU A SHRED OF MERCY, YOU SICK-" Sonic shouted as he charged at Eggman, only to be cut off as he was intercepted by a Metal Sonic unit.

"Ah-ah-ah, language Rodent." Eggman chided tauntingly.

Silver Sonic had also entered, as damaged as it was.

"Sally…" C.C. whispered.

"I know… This can't be allowed to happen."

"I'll cover you while you work on it." C.C. said as she pulled out a pistol she'd swiped from one of the Fortress's guard armories before she'd caught up with Sally and Sonic.

Sally nodded at her.

The two of them rushed below decks to interfere with the workings of the weapon while Eggman was distracted with Sonic.

* * *

Noticing soon after that Sally and C.C. were gone, Eggman powered up the Eggmobile's weapons and made to go after them.

"Not so fast Egghead!" Sonic shouted as he broke past the two robots and disabled the hoverpod with a quick strike.

 _"Come on Sal… You and the Green furred witch better pull this off."_

"Don't think they'll get out that easily!" Eggman snarled as he pressed a button.

"Damnit!" Sonic cursed as Metal Sonic pre-empted any retaliatory action against Eggman.

* * *

[I'm connected Sally but it will take _hours_ to fully patch in.]

"How much time do we have…" C.C. asks warily as she keeps an eye out for Eggman or one of the Sonic mimics.

["Eight Minutes at most… I can however redirect the beam to this exact portion of the ship… But neither of you are immune unlike Sonic and Eggman should the doctor be wrong about his reset… The beam's effects will spill over into the surrounding chambers above, around and below this one"]

An armored bulkhead door slammed shut, trapping them in the firing chamber.

"Damn I thought we'd have more time…" C.C. mumbled while trying to find a way to open the door, not risking a ricochet from trying to shoot anything related to it.

"Nicole is there any way to help one of us retain our free will now that both of us are trapped in here?" Sally asked without hesitation.

["I can institute a program yes… But there's only enough time to put in the coding for one of you, I didn't exactly keep one on hand since I figured the Roboticizer was no longer a viable tool…"]

"Then lock in C.C.'s genetic code, Eggman can't be allowed to have whatever knowledge is in her head and then back yourself up in the city's servers."

["Understood… I… I'm sorry I couldn't do anything more"] NICOLE said as she devoted all available processing power to the assigned tasks.

"Sally!"

"Don't protest, this is the way it has to be, you and I both know Eggman can't be allowed to pick your memory banks while roboticized… Anything I know about you he probably already knows or is worthless to him…"

C.C. looked down at her feet, cursing their luck.

"I never should have come in here…"

"Too late for that now… And It wouldn't have changed a thing." Sally sighed.

Above, Eggman shouted at Snively to fire.

[It's done…] NICOLE mumbled.

Sally stared at Nicole's face on the screen of the handheld and smiled softly, the Lynx's avatar touching the screen in response. "Goodbye Nicole, tell everyone I'm sorry…" As tears ran down her face.

Then the World Roboticizer fired.

* * *

The Mark Nemo's head turned skyward as an explosion rocked the Death Egg, smoke and flame billowing from several points on its massive hull as a couple Egg Fleet cruisers and escorts closed ranks with it, beginning to spray chemical foam to douse the flames.

Everyone else had taken the lull in the fighting to stare at it was well.

"Did they do it?" Mina asked nobody in specific as numerous soldiers began chattering amongst themselves.

* * *

 _"Our energy is almost depleted."_ Nemo muttered.

"What…"

 _"You didn't think this form is possible to maintain indefinitely? The more activity it sees the faster our store of chaos energy is used up, and if we run out… It'll start draining your life force to sustain it next... Which won't last very long… After that point it'll dissolve back into a pool of nanites surrounding your drained corpse and my shell…"_

"Wonderful, you could have told me that sooner…" Fiona grumbled.

" _Peh, you're the one who didn't want to be a weak link anymore, miss 'I want the power to decide and carve out my own future', anyways we should head back to the detention center's ruins, you'll look beat up and exhausted enough that they'll believe a story of you crawling out of the rubble._ "

"Alright, alright. They're distracted anyways, so this should be easier." Fiona mumbled.

* * *

The Mark Nemo leapt back to the ruins of the Detention Center, even as an agent of the Geass directorate watched it via binoculars.

"Interesting…" They whispered.

* * *

Eggman picked himself out of the rubble, dusting himself off.

"What in the blazes…"

["Uncle, the explosion of the World Roboticizer has led to massive energy leaks but we're intact, all other systems are green and we are maintaining altitude, the fleet is closing formation to engage in damage control."]

"Hey look we win, _again_." Sonic chirped as he held Metal Sonic's destroyed head.

"You think this is the only plan I've got!?" Eggman shouted.

"It's the last one you'll get to launch." Sonic said coldly as he charged Eggman, knocking the Doctor flat on his back

"Once I get Sal and the witch out and we're done with you we'll blow up your little Death Egg and then go stomp Naugus into the ground." He boasted.

As Sonic continued to rant, a chestnut colored metal arm burst from the rubble. Catching the attention of the hedgehog and the doctor as Mecha Sally pulled herself free and uttered the last words Sonic ever wanted to hear.

["Hedgehog. Priority One."] Sally droned emotionlessly and advanced on Sonic as Eggman began laughing manically.

"WHO WINS NOW SONIC? **WHO WINS NOW! AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!** "

"No... Sal… Please snap out of it… I don't wanna fight you… Please give me a sign you're in there…" Sonic pleads as he tries to free himself from Sally's sudden grip as a Roboticized C.C. extricates herself from the rubble as well, her golden optics gleaming coldly at Sonic before one flickers briefly in a wink, Sonic sighing internally knowing at least someone has free will.

Rubbing his back as he stood up and walked over to them, beckoning the Robians to follow him. "It's time to take out the trash."

Entering a still functional elevator with the two Robians and the hapless hedgehog, Eggman smirks as he watches Sonic struggle in Sally's iron grip.

"It'd be more sensible to have her walk you into an incinerator but I want to enjoy this." Eggman chuckled.

Once they reach the floor Eggman wanted he smiled. "Sally be a dear and throw Sonic out the disposal chute."

["As you wish doctor."] She promptly marched over to the waste tube and tossed Sonic in it.

At that moment C.C. charged past them both and jumped in as well.

Eggman's eye began twitching again as he screamed in rage at having his long term backup plan snatched from his grasp yet again.

Mecha Sally remained coldly impassive.

* * *

Sonic lands on the Tornado as C.C. heavily plops into the rear seat, a startled Tails staring at her robotic form briefly.

"What happened in there!? Where's Sally!?"

"We couldn't save her."

["She chose to sacrifice herself to keep my memories out of Eggman's hands…"] C.C. clarified

Tail's face hardened. "The payoff better be worth it."

C.C. 'closed' her eyes and shook her head. ["You'll find out in time exactly why they must be kept out of his hands, I only gave you the basic gist of it, Eggman could achieve the same results I warned you of with Chaos Emeralds if he decided to learn the Ixis Magiks… In time you'll understand why I don't trust easily."]

"Tails drop it for now… I'll explain more about what happened on the way back to the Death Egg." Sonic said.

Tails sighed and rolled the Tornado and headed back

Meanwhile Sonic simply mumbled irritatedly. "Where the heck is Ixis Naugus…"

Suddenly a massive red shape whizzed past them and the Freedom Fighter Special crashing into the Coliseum. Soon afterwards, Bunnie jumped out of the Special and flew down to engage it.

* * *

The Titan Metal Sonic stood and began to rampage through New Mobotropolis as Bunnie glared at Naugus before the two engaged the robot together, Bunnie firing her blaster and Naugus using his magic.

Soon afterwards Naugus was swatted aside by the machine and he mumbled to himself about proving himself worth of the crown before blasting it _and_ Bunnie with his wand, encasing them in Crystal.

* * *

Up above, C.C. relays a play by play using her enhanced visual capabilities, Sonic snarling at Naugus's actions.

"Hate that guy more and more even when he's supposed to be on our side for the moment…"

Looking up he stared at the underside of the Death Egg, now glowing.

"Oh come on, how many other superweapons did he pack into that thing!?"

A massive energy beam lanced out of the Death Egg's base, clipping the Tornado and the Special and causing both to spin out of control, Tails and Sonic bailing while C.C. was flung from her seat, screaming in terror as she was unsure if her robotic body could stand the impact nor if her immortality somehow transferred to Robian form.

Sonic reached out but her increased weight meant she was falling faster than he anticipated, leaving Sonic and Tails staring in horror as she fell to Mobius below.

* * *

Landing nearby after witnessing the Crystalized Titan Metal Sonic sacrifice itself to stop the blast, they watch, fascinated as C.C.'s body begins reverting to it's proper shape, metal seeming to knit itself back together as her shattered form reassembles itself.

"Amazing… She's made of living metal!" Tails breathed.

"Huh…?"

"An inorganic, self-repairing compound! Even the Bem didn't have access to this kind of stuff!" Tails said while having a minor nerdgasm.

"Woah…" Sonic mumbled.

C.C.'s eyes flicker on and dart around rapidly as she panics before calming down on seeing the two.

["I'm… Alive…? That or we're all in hell."] She let out a chuff of exhaust from her cooling fans to clear the dirt blockage as she sat up.

"Nice to see you too." Sonic grumbled.

"Now that we know you're fine, let's go check the others…" Tails suggested.

["I'm heading to the server room, best to lay low for now, and keep an eye on NICOLE…"] C.C. from her limited experience had seen the AI was genuinely distraught to lose Sally.

She knew what it was like to lose someone you were close to.

"Geoffrey hasn't seen her yet so that's a smart idea, best to not let Naugus know she's here if he's aware of her existance." Sonic mumbled.

["My opinion of the Skunk is the same as yours, I'm not sure I would be able to restrain myself from wringing his neck."] C.C. said, her optics narrowing, memories of the Black Knights betraying Lelouch resurfacing.

"Alright then… We'll have a meeting there after we deal with Eggman so _everyone_ gets told what went down." Sonic stated.

C.C. nodded and walked off as Sonic and Tails ran over to the wreckage of the Freedom Fighter Special.

* * *

Walking into the main server room, C.C. prodded NICOLE's nanite form.

["While I don't exactly trust your network security… Thank you…"] She said.

"I couldn't save Sally…"

["Sally knew the risks going in… I did too…"] C.C. sighed as her fans slowly exhaled additional hot air from her internals.

"Still..."

["There was no alternative, I was there to provide a delaying action, hopefully buying you and NICOLE at least a few Seconds should Metal or Silver Sonic have come down after you. Even if I hadn't been down there I would have been roboticized regardless in the energy overflow."] C.C. said as she put a hand on NICOLE's shoulder.

["The witch is right you know, no affectable change could have reasonably affected the outcome of the situation."]

C.C. tensed, every servo in her body ready to strike out with maximum force. ["Who else is here…"]

["Please, It's been decades but I know who you are…"] Dimitri said as his orb floated into view.

["Dimitri… You've looked… Better…"] C.C. made an electronic noise that NICOLE recognized as giggling.

The Echinda trapped inside the orb narrowed his eyes at the Robian.

"You know eachother." NICLOE asked, raising an eyebrow.

["It's a long story."]

["Says the one who's a Robian now."]

["At least I have a body."]

["Touche… Anyways I'm seeing damage in the city that isn't being repaired…."]

"I can't repair it…"

["What do you mean?"] C.C. questioned.

"I can't, between Naugus's magic messing with the nanites, hearing the people talking about me, and Sally... I can't focus enough to do mass repairs..."

["Well… That presents a problem…"] Dimitri muttered as C.C. nodded in agreement.

* * *

"All units standby, we move on Naugus in three days, victory or death." An operative spoke into their radio handset.

["Squad 1 copies."]

["Squad 2 acknowledges."]

["Irregulars on standby."]

* * *

Omakes:

As C.C. jumped into the disposal chute she popped up briefly to give Eggman the finger before dropping back down.

"Did she just flip me the bird..."

["Affirmative Doctor."]

His eye began twitching.

* * *

C.C. sipped a cup of Oil as she watched Sonic rage about the Off Panel Marriage of Mecha Sally and Metal Sonic.

[It's non canon, quit your screaming."]

"WHAT ARE YOU SO RELAXED ABOUT!? YOU CAN'T EAT PIZZA ANYMORE!" He screamed.

C.C.'s robotic pupils dilated in realization before she fell to her knees and did her best Vader impression.

 _ **["NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"]**_

["Too much...?"] She asked as everyone stared at her incredulously.


	6. Brief Interludes

AN: Yeah, Mobotropolis just doesn't get a break does it.

Also I did find a counterpart to Geas in Gaelic Folklore. Not on Wikipedia because apparently nobody gives enough of a damn to make an entry

Buaid, which has the opposite effect of instead of being a curse, is a charm.

Making it the easiest candidate to use for Geass's Moebius counterpart.

I fully plan to make use of this knowledge, however limited it is due to the lack of surviving Irish mythological records.

 _Glares at the Catholic Church and the British_.

On another note. Porgs are like the Star Wars version of Chao now I guess. _Shrugs_

* * *

"Are you fucking kidding me? First Eggman and now these goddamn birds!" Dalaque shouted as she snapped the neck of a hapless Battle Bird Soldier.

Alice sped around another and crushed their vertebrae with a precision kick. "Be careful, we don't want the someone tipping off Naugus, and no civilian casualties if we can help it." The Antelope stated.

["Which means no guns or explosives."] Sancia ordered via radio.

"Eh, more fun for me." Dalaque shrugged as she crushed another's beak in her hand.

"Don't Mobian birds realize their bones are semi-hollow?" Mao asked as she knifed one in the jugular before activating her Geass.

"Makes 'em easier to smash!" Dalaque laughed.

"Really Mao? Using your Geass?" Alice said as she stared at the Arctic Fox.

"Tch… So long as I use it in moderation I'll be fine." She stated as she read the mind of an Armada officer before causing his Neurons to fry themselves via overstimulation. "So, apparently Babylon Garden is buried under the city."

"Wait so the birds really are aliens… What…?"

Mao rolled her eyes at Dalaque before glaring at Alice, she knew very damn well that Sancia and Lucretia had already used their own Geass to track Naugus while he was within line of sight.

Sancia's Geass was well suited for a sniper, anything in her line of sight was tracked and the velocity and range automatically calculated mentally while active, the downside is that it overloaded if there were too many variables, such as a large crowd or a pitched battle.

Mao's own Geass was apparently a modified version of one from the pre-Xorda era according to the director, but he declined to elaborate, stating that the individual in question was long dead anyways and all that she needed to know were the risks. According to the director her Geass came with the caveat of possibly driving her insane if it became permanently active, hence why a suppression device was provided for her.

He also apparently felt uncomfortable with her name for some reason as well, not that Mao particularly cared.

Dalaque's Geass mentally petrified anyone she made eye contact with, helpful with her propensity for running up and punching her opponents in the face. But it likewise came with the same risks against people she didn't intend it for should it be overused.

Alice's Geass was an oddity, able to project mental illusions to trick the minds of people regarding the speed, direction and even location of an object, making it appear faster or slower than it truly was. But it had the side effect of screwing with Alice's own perception at times.

Lucretia's could mentally mark individuals and enable her to track them via their neural signatures for periods of time, whilst forming a map of places they've been while she was tracking them. Like Sancia this came with the risk of overload should the person be moving too fast, such as Sonic, Shadow or someone inside an aircraft.

In all their Geass combined with matching chaos abilities, Alice's speed, Dalaque's Strength, Mao's own agility, Lucretia's mapping ability, and Sancia's unerring accuracy made for a skilled commando unit under Colonel Madd, a former member of the Eurish Dark Egg Legion, how he'd escaped the forced servitude was beyond anyone, even the director had been wary about his background, although the bounty Eggman put on him was massive, which meant he was indeed rogue.

"Shame we couldn't bring our Frames." Dalaque muttered as they vacated the building and headed to another fallback point.

"That would defeat the point of assassinating Naugus, besides, they're too big for someone to not notice and shipping them in here in pieces would require too large a support group." Mao pointed out.

"Would it kill you to think for once Dalaque…?" Alice asked.

"WoULd iT KiLl yOu to tHInk fOR ONcE dALaQuE?" The Lioness mocked causing Mao to facepalm.

Suddenly, the ground shook violently as the Babylon Garden rose from the spot once occupied by Acorn Castle.

"HOLY SHIT!" Dalaque yelled.

As the Garden rose into the sky, tethered to the Armada's main battle fortress a volley of missiles and hadron cannon fire tore into the marauding avian airships.

["It looks like GUN has arrived…"] Sancia reported.

"How can you tell Captain?"

["Because a _Gabriel_ -class flying fortress _and_ her battlegroup just blew two Armada cruisers from the sky."]

"Which one is it… There's two in service, one undergoing trials, and another five on the way." Mao asked.

["Transponder and markings are consistent with the UFS _Ikaruga_."]

"Wait… The elite Black Knights division!?" Dalaque sputtered after spewing the water she'd been drinking.

"I would have thought the _hadron_ _cannons_ their ships are fitted with and the massive sigil on the bows would have given it away?"

"How the

["Looks like it, if Zero is here that means we need to inform the director and lay low for the moment."]

"Roger that Sancia, Dalaque, Alice. Let's head back to the safehouse for the moment." Mao ordered as the three headed on to the next assigned safehouse.

* * *

C.C. stared at the sigils on the side of the _Ikaruga_ and her escorts from an antenna atop the Server Center. ["Lelouch… It looks like your legacy does live on after all…"] She muttered, adjusting her metallic 'hair' to re-cover the geass sigil on her forehead, now some form of semi-translucent material that she presumed glowed when her code activated, and an annoyingly visible outline seam to boot.

The Garden of Babylon suddenly began to fall from the Sky, taking the Armada's flagship with it, both vanishing over the mountains and crashing to the ground with a noticeable impact, causing C.C.'s digital eyes to wince.

The remaining ships fled in the face of the overwhelming firepower GUN had brought to bear, their crews stunned by the sheer size of the Human-built flagship.

["Good riddance to those damn birds as well. I'd hoped for some peace between battles"] C.C. mumbled as she hopped off the signal tower and walked back inside.

* * *

Sonic sighed as he stared at the ruins with Rotor. Before looking up to see a GUN transport VTOL land next to him. Two Human or Overlander soldiers stepped out, wearing typical GUN combat uniforms, except for the black color scheme and subtle but ornate decoration, both also had triangular dark purple visors attached to their helmets instead of the typical red combat goggles.

"An elite unit?" Sonic whispered to Rotor, who shrugged, as everyone turned to face them, the civilians backing away in the face of the armed humans.

Between them stepped a man wearing a mask that had immortalized itself on human history, shrouded in a gold trimmed cloak.

"So, you are Sonic the Hedgehog." The subtle voice manipulation was detectable to Sonic's ears.

"Who's asking?" He said while crossing his arms.

"I am Zero. I advise you come see me aboard the _Ikaruga_ at a later date, there is much to discuss."

"Great… More politics…" Sonic sighed as Rotor groaned in agreement.

As they boarded the transport and flew off Sonic looked at Rotor and asked. "Is this Zero guy supposed to be important?"

"Zero is a title and rank given to the head of the Black Knights, GUN's elite taksforce, before the Xorda attack they were the closest counterpart the world had to the Freedom Fighters, ostensibly their mission was to help anyone who could not defend themselves from tyranny, it's recorded that the first Zero killed a great tyrant known to the populace as the Demon Emperor."

"Who was he…?"

"A Human by the name of Lelouch Vi Britannia, the 99th emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire. Under his rule, Britannia conquered the entire planet, something even Eggman has failed to do at the height of his power." Rotor continued.

"How come nobody told us about this?"

"Because you can't stop long enough to read a history book." Rotor taunted only half-jokingly.

Sonic simply glared at Rotor.

"Anyways, only a year or two into the reign of the 100th Empress… Well you know the rest."

"The Xorda…"

Rotor nodded at Sonic.

The hedgehog stared at the ground for a moment and sighed. "I'll take Tails and go inspect the wreckage of the Garden and the Armada's flagship, we'll be back before the trial starts."

* * *

Rosemary sighed as they waited for Rotor, according to a message from Elias some citizens initially refused to evacuate because, 'he wasn't king.'

What kind of stupidity was that? If the city is under attack you should evacuate regardless of who was telling you to do so.

She was beginning to understand _why_ Max hated democracy, it only truly worked if everyone was of equal sense and intelligence.

Which was fine in the highly regimented and intellectual Bem society or the more widely educated United Federation.

But less efficient overall here, despite it being one of the better options.

More budget increases for public schooling were necessary she guessed.

And of course, now there was the trial, or at least one of two planned trials, the one involving Fiona would take place behind closed doors at a later point, only involving the Freedom Fighters and the military instead of a public spectacle like Geoffrey, though this was mostly due to Naugus's wishes for some reason.

She turned to see Sonic and Tails rush into the courtroom and take their seats.

Following them in were a pair of GUN soldiers wearing slightly different combat uniforms than the norm flanking a man wearing a mask and cloak who took a place in the back.

Raising an eyebrow at them Rosemary was soon distracted by the commencement of the trial, with Amadeus and a pair of other officers serving as the tribunal for Geoffrey and Antooine as the prosecutor.

For some reason the skunk had opted not to obtain legal counsel, which made Rosemary suspect Naugus was going to pardon him should he be found guilty.

And as Antoine began his first line of questioning, Rosemary honestly couldn't see any other reason for Naugus to allow this except to spite the Freedom Fighters.

* * *

Mao walked into the safehouse with Dalaque and Alice, finding Sancia and Lucretia there alongside Alpha Team's leader and an old owl.

"Who's the old guy?"

"An old contact of the director's, he's been reporting on the state of the throne and the picture of King Max isn't flattering. And Elias has promise but needs to grow a bit of backbone first, except his children are ineligible for the throne because he married commoner." Sancia said as the Dire Wolfess patted Lucretia on her dorsal fin, the Mobian dolphin's nervousness showing.

"To be fair, the Acorn line's current best bet for a ruler just got roboticized…" Alice stated.

"Sally gave up her right to the throne some time back, which means the Acorn line after Elias is a dead end." Mao observed.

"Indeed." The wizened owl mumbled. "Although it might be even deader than that if what that time traveling hedgehog says is true." The lot of them jumped a little. "Don't be surprised, you aren't the only ones keeping an eye on him. He is rather obvious with it isn't he not?"

"That future isn't guaranteed, is it?" Alpha leader asked nervously.

"Only the past is set in stone, unless someone is as crazy as Eggman to go and try changing it." The owl said as he sipped his coffee. "Regardless, you'll be swapping safehouses once everything has calmed down, I have other plans I've been discussing with the director, mostly involving how to deal with Naugus in the likely event you lot fail to kill him."

"How do you think it is that likely?"

"You aren't the first to try." He said solemnly.

"He's a liability." Dalaque whispered to Mao.

"I doubt it, he doesn't seem the kind to go around talking to people…" Mao whispered back.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to someone." He said before walking out of the room.

"Do we trust him?" Beta leader asked as they walked in.

"As long as the director does." Sancia confirmed.

"Roger, let's get this meeting out of the way and head back to the dispersal points."

Within half an hour, the building was empty again.

* * *

Sonic marched into the server building an hour after Geffrey's trial, meanwhile Fiona's was postponed until a holding cell could be built, so she was put under Sonic's control for the moment, effectively under house arrest.

It wasn't Fiona's delay that was getting him, if she had the capacity to change for the better so be it.

It was the fact Naugus flaunted his new power and for his first act as king, pardoned Geoffrey.

And so here Sonic was, Fiona was currently under watch via Muttski and his parents, with that creepy clay doll of hers, oddly enough that was part of the reason he'd come, a mark on the doll that he'd only ever seen before on C.C.'s roboticized forehead.

"Yo, Robo Witch? You in here?" It was hard not to miss her; her limbs and torso were in the same color scheme as that strait jacket she had been somewhat fond of wearing, and bulked out a bit to match.

["Considering the sight of a Robian aside from your father would set off a mass panic, I have had no reason to leave."] She said as she looked over from the chess match she and Dimitri were playing.

"Cool, I brought Pizza." C.C.'s eyes flared angrily in response despite her appearance remaining otherwise impassive.

["You have to admit, you knew he was going to taunt you like that."] Dimitri said.

["I assume you came to do something aside from mocking me about my inability to eat?"]

"Yeah, it's about the clay doll Fiona has, got some kinda weird bird symbol on it."

The Robian tensed, causing Sonic to raise an eyebrow curiously. ["What kind of 'weird bird' symbol…"]

"Same one that's on your forehead."

C.C. promptly let out a string of, presumably French obscenities that only Antoine could have deciphered. Dimitri wondered if this doll Sonic mentioned was related to one of the old experiments the Knights or the Order of Ixis had run during the Forgotten War.

["I'll be right back…"] She said as she rushed out the door.

["So, Hedgehog. Would you like to play a game of chess?"] Dimitri said as looked over at Sonic.

Only to see a vaguely Hedgehog shaped dust outline.

["Oh that is so cliché."] The cyborg Echidna head muttered.

["I've almost… GAAAH…"] Nicole shouted as she slammed her fist into the wall.

["I can't focus enough to manipulate the Nanites…"]

["Relax for a bit, whether you do anything or not in the short term will barely affect the Citizens' opinion of you."] Dimitri cautioned. ["And creating an unstable or unsafe looking structure will actually make it worse."]

["You're right…"] She sighed.

["Chess?"] He asked, causing NICOLE to smile.

["I'd be delighted."]

["At some point… Do you think you could give me a new hover bubble? That temporary mobile platform I used yesterday just isn't the same."]

NICOLE rolled her eyes.

* * *

C.C. stared at Sonic's house after the hedgehog caught up to her.

"What the heck is so important that you had to come out here right now?"

[I'll tell you later…"] C.C. muttered.

["Sonic?"] Jules asked as he walked outside.

"Oh hey dad… He said as C.C. used her modified code to make herself invisible to Jule's mechanical eyes, she'd been practicing such a feat earlier with NICOLE and Dimitri.

["What are you doing out this late? Your mother is already in bed."] Even C.C. could sense the pain hidden inside Jules's voice, he couldn't sleep, much less sleep with his own wife.

From what Sonic had told her, there was no technology that could save him quickly enough should he be deroboticized, otherwise the Bem would have done so long ago.

"Nothing much… Hey is Fiona still here?"

["No, Elias showed up and took her somewhere, he told me that he was handing her over to the Army after they'd finished a hastily built brig."]

Sonic raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on that. Elias had little authority anymore and if the Army was doing something to house Fiona, why not keep her at HQ?

"Alright dad… Where are you going anyways?"

["I have some business with Chuck about my limb servos."] Jules stated.

"Alright dad… Tell Uncle Chuck I said hi and try not to slip on any of the Nanite puddles!" Sonic said as he headed inside, followed by C.C.

Jules shook his head as he walked off.

Now what was Chuck saying about 'big plans' again?

* * *

"What the hell was that about? What was so important that you had to go straight to my damn house for?!" Sonic pressed once he and C.C. were inside his room.

["I've told you the basic gist of Geass yes?"]

"Duh…"

["I have reason to suspect that Fiona has Geass of her own…"]

"Wait what…"

["Like I said, a better explanation will come at Freedom HQ, when we have less risk of someone overhearing, in NICOLE's current state her cybersecurity is so weak even your average hacker could breach it with some time."]

"Alright then, but I want the full story, no more of this cryptic crap!" Sonic snarled, saying the events of the past few days having put in a bad mood was an understatement, and the fact Naugus's magic had already screwed with his head to begin with wasn't helping.

["Perhaps I was wrong about you not having some form of backbone, although I am surprised to see you being this aggressive."] Even Lelouch hadn't been this aggressively direct, although she'd have readily explained the risks of Geass if he'd _asked_. Why would she hide _that_ from her contractor?

For all his intelligence and skill Lelouch's cockiness was his greatest weakness, his second greatest being his fixation on Nunnally.

"Just… It's been hard, first Naugus, then I lose Sal and now I have one of my exes, who might or might not have actually loved me, living under the same roof on court orders…" Sonic sighed as he pinched his nose.

["You and the princess were close I assume?"] C.C. had long wondered about that, despite official announcements, she'd long taken those with a pinch of salt, she'd wondered what the _personal_ relationship.

"I was her consort at one point… Then I chose duty over love… Sometimes I wonder if that was the right decision to make…"

C.C. remained silent, mulling about Lelouch again, he'd deliberately ignored the feelings of no less than four or more women, including herself admittedly, to pursue his goals for a more peaceful world for Nunnally.

And then broke his little sister's heart fulfilling them.

There were numerous differences but take away all Lelouch's willingness to play dirty, and there was a lot he and Sonic had in common, far more than she thought they did in the first place.

She hated that fact.

Although, she had to admit it was rare to find someone with Sonic's level of wit, even Lelouch had proven inadequate in that regard.

"Hey… Why didn't my dad see you…?"

C.C. made a gulping noise. Hopefully Sonic would understand… If he didn't… Well… Perhaps his response would be restrained…

The hedgehog was quite protective of his family after all...

* * *

Eggman snarled as he continued his search for the Chaos emerald that vanished from the Death Egg.

"Uncle…"

"Shut it Snively!"

"Yes Uncle, but… What about the Witch? Surely she is still in New Mobotropolis? Wouldn't it be rather easy to seize her?"

"You underestimate the amount of mental fortitude needed to take on a code holder, If Lien-Da and I hadn't been wearing psychic suppression gear she'd have done the same thing to us as she did to you, without needing physical contact either. And with her new Robian form she could quite possibly hack Cyborgs and Machines instead of unleashing mental attacks on Organics."

Snively gulped.

"Moreover, GUN is hovering over the damn city with a full battlegroup."

Snively stared at the image of the GUN air fleet Eggman showed him, recognizing some of Hope's work in the designs of the ships.

"You were **weak** to let your Step-Sister escape… They'd be back by years, _**decades**_ on these things without her genius helping them... To think that they used Nanolathe construction on most of it as well to decrease production time by a substantial amount! Something _also_ developed for them by little Hope… **DO YOU SEE WHAT HESITATING HAS COST US!?** " Eggman roared at Snively.

"I see Uncle… It has cost us our overwhelming technological supremacy…" Snively squeaked.

"And now there's reports coming in of unidentified individuals shadowing some of our fringe outposts, ones that _neither_ the Freedom Fighters nor GUN care about, which means we have _another_ group to worry about!" He shouted.

" _Maybe I can use that to my advantage…"_ Snively thought as he watched Eggman rant.

* * *

"Boss, we've got the warp ring…" Lightning Lynx reported as he walked into their hideout.

"Good, damn bitch got cold feet now, after everything that's happened she got cold feet _now_!?"

Lightning winced, Fiona suddenly abandoning them had left everyone more than a little bitter "Anyways… I have another thing to talk about."

"Well lay it on me, I could use some more good news…"

"Simian says he and Frog have got some potential recruits picked out…"

"Who?"

"We've got a couple names, mixed bag by the looks of it."

"Could care less who they are so long as I can keep them under my thumb." Scourge growled as Lighting rushed back out, wary of the Hedgehog's temper.

A Star Post portal opened behind him, the swirling pool of energy allowing someone through.

"The hell do you want?" Scourge asked cautiously, wary of the newcomer, before sighing upon realizing _who_ it was.

"Simple my dear tyrant… I got bored, and Doctor Kintobor wasn't doing anything that entertained me." The vixen said, still smiling sweetly.

Scourge scowled "Wonderful, I got the fucking psycho bitch."

"Aww don't be like that. I'm just here to observe and see what it's like outside our own dimension, I could care less who you hurt and what you do really. All I want is something to alleviate this boredom like when you conquered Moebius." 3.3. said as she walked over in her usual and very disturbingly peppy manner before leaning over the incredibly unnerved Scourge.

Scourge sweated as she loomed over him, he'd heard stories about her from Miles's uncle before the old geezer ran off somewhere during the takeover, rumors ranged from her being able to suck the souls out of people to extend her own lifespan to the ability to enslave people she made 'contracts' with, turning them into extensions of her will. "Alright alright... You can tag along and watch Three-two..."

She beamed at him, although the smile held no real warmth to it.

"So... We're going to go after some Tasmanian Devil first, see if he wants to join up with us..." Scourge hesitantly offered.

"YAY! NEW PEOPLE!" She jumped back suddenly and did a cheerful fist in the air pose.

 _"By the Beryl she really is more insane than Rosie..."_ Scourge thought nervously.

And she also had access to powers he didn't possibly understand.

Sometimes Scourge _really_ hated his life.

* * *

"You wanted to see me sir?" Ziona asked as she walked into Zonic's office.

"Ah Ziona, just the cadet I wanted to see." Zonic said as he gestured for her to sit down. "I have your first assignment for you."

"What kind of assignment…" While excited she was nervous about if it was just a backwater thing or an important duty.

"Field operations, I want you to work the case for this hybrid dimension off on the fringe of the Prime-class zones." He stated simply.

"Hybrid…?"

"Slang in the force calls them crossovers given how they bridge between our universe and the rest of the omniverse, Mobius Prime was briefly classified as one before it went dark." Zonic stated.

"But don't we need all available officers to fight off Doctor Nega?"

"I'm worried he might take an interest in what's going on there. Commissioner Zarmand Ze Zoolette and Deputy Commissioner Zabahram Zower agree." Ziona nodded in response to her superior's explanation

"How close is it to the Prime Zone, in terms of how things go, in your experience?"

"Close enough that I ended up there a couple times by accident. In fact, only now is the Mobian era timeline beginning to diverge from events in the Prime Zone, the fact that Eggman and Robotnik are one in the same instead of two separate people was previously the only major differential, and an inconsequential one at that. Here's a full dossier on the Zone's timeline." Zonic forwarded the files in question to her helmet mounted display.

"I'll get right on it." Ziona said as she saluted.

"Sunrise sector Chief Zugo Zrass should have your mission briefing on hand when you reach him."

"Sir… About the Prime Zone… Shouldn't our localized multiverse have collapsed because of the Super Genesis Wave?"

"Oddly enough, another pretty much identical universe became the new Prime Zone, indicating a separation of events… Probably a contingency in case anyone tried to pull anything like Mogul did a while back. Either way that's up to the Scientists to figure out once we're done stabilizing everything." Zonic stated as he noticed she was still saluting. "At ease… Officer." He said before walking over and holding out a badge.

"Thank you sir!" Ziona dropped her salute and smiled happily as Zonic pinned it to her vest while a drone took a picture for the record, becoming a full-fledged officer on the force was a major step in the life of any inhabitant of the No-Zone, given that everyone from there was either part of the Zone Cops or supported it via another overt method such as surveillance or working in the No-Zone prison complex.

"Good luck out there, you'll need it." Zonic said, mumbling the second half under his breath as she walked out of the room.

"You're really gonna need it kid…" He sighed, wondering if he'd just sent a fresh, untested, rookie to her death in one of the most dangerous zones in recent memory.

* * *

Harvey Who stared at Elias and Fiona after he finished explaining his plan. "You two will be the first members of the Secret Freedom Fighters, Agent King and Agent…" Harvey stumbled at what to call Fiona

"Nemo?" Fiona suggested at the prodding of her mental 'associate'.

"Nemo… In an old human language it means no one, or nobody… Fitting, somewhat I guess… For a variety of reasons, although not what we needed, nor the most fitting… Since we're going with the Card theme, Agent Queen of Spades."

Fiona raised an eyebrow.

Harvey chuckled. "That one is the one that is oft avoided by players because it is a very high point card, and is considered unlucky. However, in cartomancy it is also a sign of intelligence, a woman who is intellectual, practical, and logical, someone who is creative and makes plans well in advance."

She nodded, accepting his reasoning.

"They say the Queen of Spades 'doesn't know the meaning of subservience let alone how to play the part.'." Elias mumbled.

Fiona smirked, that sounded like her, or Sally if she was entirely honest.

The dethroned King glanced at Fiona, her treason hadn't affected him personally but he was wary about any future members. Disregarding the sand blasters, the Freedom Fighters and the various local variations were quite tight nit, which would be an issue if they gained any recruits from those groups.

"Charles has informed me 'Shard' is almost ready for action." Harvey said as he sipped his Coffee.

"So, the plan stays as is?" Elias asked.

"Indeed, I shall handle the recruitment of additional members to our cause. Be wary, Naugus's position will likely strengthen dramatically in the coming days." The owl warned.

Nemo glanced at Fiona, invisible to either Harvey or Elias.

" _What does he mean by that."_

Fiona shrugged at her pale doppelganger, ignoring the glances Elias and Harvey gave her.

"So Fiona… Prove you can be trusted and I promise I'll do my best to pardon you once restored to the throne…"

"Trust comes hard for me Elias… I trusted your sister and she left me to rot in one of Eggman's cells…"

Elias winced. "It was a difficult decision… But she didn't want to risk losing Sonic too…"

Fiona sighed, dropping the subject for now. "You have a big day tomorrow… And Eggman is probably going to come after you when you leave the city…"

Elias nodded.

Much was to be done in the future.

And it was a long, difficult road ahead.

One thing was bugging Elias however. If Naugus had been in the Zone of Silence, how had old Mobotropolis been spared from the Overland's bomber force via that magic shield as Amadeus and numerous war veterans claimed... Either that mean't another Ixis Wizard was out there, since the young Geoffrey couldn't have possibly been able to perform such a feat.

Or there was another group of Wizards hiding out.

Neither was particularly comforting.

Elias sighed as he walked out of Harvey's residence and headed back to the Royal Army HQ after detouring to drop Fiona off, he doubted he'd sleep well tonight, and tomorrow might be his last day alive...

Well...

He just had to keep his head up and move forwards.

* * *

 _"So what now?"_ Nemo asked as her avatar sat down next to Fiona once she'd been returned to Sonic's guest room, he'd seemed incredibly irritated for some reason.

"We wait for our orders..."

 _"That's unlike you"_

"I need to get used to being a team player again right? Besides, unless there's a pressing issue, we have no reason to act anyways."

 _"No skin off your back"_

"That's not how the phrase goes..."

 _"I don't have a physical back._ "

"Oh... Right... So what now?"

Nemo groaned. Didn't they just go through that?

* * *

Omake

Porgpocalypse

"Help! I'm drowning in Porgs!" Sonic screamed as he paddled at the surrounding Space Puffins while C.C. desperately clutched onto an Omochao circling above.

Ziona, standing on a wall nearby as per the odd quality of no-zone denizens being oriented 90 degrees compared to everyone else, sweated nervously as she tried to stem the Porgy menace via a remote control for a Star Post gate that was spewing them from somewhere.

"Just give me a couple more minutes!"

["Too late..."] C.C. whispered as the sun was suddenly blotted out.

Ziona paled at the shadow looming over them.

"What's all the..." Eggman started before he screamed like a little girl as the Death Egg was inundated by a tidal wave of screeching Porgs.


	7. Rising Tensions

AN: No it's not dead, I've been busy with other things.

* * *

Sancia lined up her rifle on Naugus as he stalked the grounds around the city, what he was doing she neither knew nor cared about, her objective was to kill him. Next to her Lucretia was using a spotting scope to help keep Sancia on target prior to the latter activating her Geass.

["Beta Team in position."]

["Alpha Team in position."]

"Irregulars in position." Sancia reported.

["H-Hour has passed… Begin operation."] Colonel Madd ordered from the VTOL transport at the pickup zone.

["Roger."]

"Roger." Sancia's Geass activated and information flooded her mind, windage, gravity, planetary rotation, relative velocity, distance, target momentum, her own heartrate and adrenaline levels, etcetera .

She mumbled something in the ancient language of the Dire Wolf Mobians. _"For you father… I take this shot against evil that claws for the lives of the innocent."_ Memories of her father teaching her to use a simple bow and arrow to strike down opponents from afar resurfacing.

She would make him proud… Or die trying.

Sancia felt the kick of the 14.5mm linear rifle bucking back from recoil and almost immediately she and Lucretia got up to reposition.

Neither was willing to deal with a pissed off Ixis Wizard who'd probably figure out where they engaged from.

* * *

Mao watched as Naugus instinctively created a wall of crystal that blocked Sancia's first shot.

["Alpha team here, should we engage?"]

["No joy on that Alpha leader, you guys are basically here to cover _us_."] Sancia ordered.

["She's right, we'd be torn to shreds by that guy in a straight up fight. Even if we had frames."] Beta leader chimed in.

"Alice, Dalaque… We're going in."

"Roger."

"HELL YES!" Dalaque seemed overly cheerful.

"Alpha Team and Beta Team are to occupy the Acorn Army, Black Knights, or the Freedom Fighters if they show up. Otherwise they're to keep a perimeter against Naugus's escape" Mao confirmed. "Alright ladies… Let's move."

Alice sped forwards after securing her mask, while Dalaque slammed her fists together and leapt in, leaving Mao to hop down from her vantage point and draw her rifle.

* * *

Naugus kept darting between trees as he searched for the Assassin that had just fired at him, he doubted Sonic would be as underhanded as to try shooting him, if Sonic would ever willingly lay a hand on a firearm in the first place to begin with.

Considering Mogul could care less, the Acorn Army needed his support to get their budgets approved and Amadeus was already falling under his influence spell, meanwhile GUN didn't want to risk a diplomatic incident otherwise they'd have sent Team Dark to kill him, and Eggman was more focused on the Freedom Fighters and killing Elias at this very moment… Wonderful… Another group that needed to be _crushed_.

A Mobian, clearly female under the combat gear, darted out in front of him and promptly performed a _spin dash_ at him which he used his abilities to dodge away from at the last second.

Briefly Naugus wondered what the hell was with so many chaos users getting enhanced speed? And how exactly did everyone and their mother knew how to spin dash.

Damn hedgehogs, must be their fault.

Another leapt in, Naugus dodged and watched as her stomp cratered the ground.

A third Mobian darted through the trees, taking shots at him with some sort of firearm.

Annoyances… All of them, although the presence of additional Chaos users was... Disconcerting to say the least.

Naugus launched a set of fireballs at the trio, whom promptly separated and came at him from different directions.

He threw up a wall of crystal in time to stop another bullet, firing a few fireballs to suppress the sniper.

The 'dance' continued for several minutes, neither side able to gain an advantage, even though the enemy had a sniper and numbers on their end.

This was really testing his patience, but he couldn't let them get close either. _Enough of this_.

Naugus decided that discretion was the better part of valor and shadowmelded away.

Upon recoalescing, Naugus sighed at having lost his attackers before he heard the snap of a twig behind him. Turning, he found himself face to face with about ten heavily armed Mobians in the same combat gear as the ones from before.

"Annoyances! Out of my way!"

"OPEN FIRE!" What he assumed was the leader shouted.

Fools, he didn't have time for this, not with the gnawing triad of voices in his head growing louder by the day.

* * *

["OPEN FIRE!"] Alpha leader yelled.

"ALPHA LEAD, DO NOT ENGAGE, REPEAT DO NOT ENGAGE!" Sancia yelled as Beta leader and their squad trooped over to her.

"ALPHA LEADER DO YOU COPY?! DOES ANY MEMBER OF ALPHA TEAM COPY!?" Sancia shouted into her comms again.

Only static greeted her.

"Damnit… Alpha team is MIA assume KIA…"

["Alice here… We've found Alpha, it's not pretty…"]

["They're alive at least."] Mao reported dryly.

"All remaining units re-group, we're pulling out, mission failure, repeat, mission failure… Retrieve Alpha and regroup at the extraction point" Sancia ordered, the weight of the failure grinding down on her shoulders.

No turning back now she guessed as they trekked back to the extraction point.

Like it or not, until something changed, Naugus was still the King of the Republic of Acorn.

* * *

 _Later that day_.

C.C. kicked her feet awkwardly as she watched Sonic stand up to go talk to Amy, the signs of stress caused by nearly losing Antoine affecting each of the Freedom Fighters _on top_ of Sally's roboticization hadn't been lost on her.

The group was far closer than the Black Knights had ever been, maybe if they had… Would they have turned on Lelouch so readily? A question that would never get an answer she supposed.

C.C. glanced over as she saw Sonic open the window and begin talking to a White furred hedgehog whose quills were stupidly ornate for some reason.

She shrugged and tuned out the conversation for a moment, thinking about how the Freedom Fighters, despite being unprofessional in battle and refusing to use firearms, were such a tight-knit group.

Living metal twisted into a wry grin. Hindsight was 20/20 she guessed, the Black Knights were an organization, the Freedom Fighters closer to a family.

If that had been Sally in Lelouch's place, with the Black Knights replaced by her Freedom Fighters, the second prince wouldn't have bothered at all.

While Zero being impersonal had been intentional, it was also a weakness that Schneizel exploited to devastating effect.

"It's Antoine! Antoine will betray you all!"

Hold up.

She knew her thought cycles were that much faster with her computerized brain, but it had to have taken more than a few seconds to process that sentence from the white hedgehog.

Or so she thought.

Then a pissed off Sonic busted his way through the wall with a spin dash.

["Oh, for god's sake you idiot, you had the window open."] C.C. droned as Sonic dragged Silver off, presumably to the hospital to show him Antoine.

The sound of the door opening distracted her as Fiona peeked in nervously. "What the hell just happened…"

C.C. caught sight of her and some _thing_ inside her head went haywire. ["Now that I have you alone, time for that _talk_."]

* * *

Fiona gulped as C.C. marched out of Sonic's room and dragged her into the hall closet, the only source of illumination being the eerie yellow glow of the Robian's eyes.

" _Oh god is she going to kiss you? That's weird even without her being a Robian."_ Nemo snarked.

C.C.'s eyes narrowed, Fiona wincing as the piercing glow kept up. ["I am unfamiliar with this kind of contract, how exactly did are you sharing a mind with… Whatever this is... Is this an artificial code or one slammed inside an inanimate object…?"]

" _I know what you are but what am I?"_

["Shut up, I'm asking the questions here, _who_ or _what_ made you."]

" _Not sure if even I remember. Eh, maybe later."_

Fiona sighed as Nemo and C.C. quarreled, both exchanging a series of insults related to lineage and sexual promiscuity.

 _This is gonna be a while…_

Or it wouldn't be as Sonic stormed back in, opened the closet door and stared deadpan at the two of them before pointing at the Robian.

"Alright Robo Witch we're going to Freedom HQ." He ordered.

C.C. glared at him defiantly. ["No."]

" _We're going to Freedom HQ_ " Sonic ground out. "I've wasted what little patience I have for the moment on that idiot with the pot-leaf quills and I definitely don't have the time to deal with _this_ bullshit."

C.C. briefly looked conflicted before glaring at Fiona ["This isn't over."] She walked out of the Closet and headed off with Sonic, Amy had presumably left a while ago after Bernie and Jules went to chase down their son and yell at him for breaking the wall.

As the two left, Nemo spoke up again.

" _Hey Fiona, don't you have a meeting with Harvey later?"_

"Oh shit… I forgot…" She quietly absconded through the hole Sonic made in his bedroom wall.

"I wonder… Were Scourge's taunts about Sonic right…?" Fiona mused as she glanced briefly back at the damage Sonic did to his own bedroom for no real reason other than he was angry.

'One bad day and you'd be just like me' indeed…

Safe to say, Fiona doubted she'd be sleeping well tonight, while Sonic had his principles even he had the capacity to go _too_ far, and Eggman's actions recently have been bringing out the worst side of him from what little she could gather.

Or was something else to blame… But Naugus wasn't actively trying to affect him since he had mostly total control of the city anyways.

Memories of her tomb raiding days came to the fore... There was one temple she had wanted nothing to do with after managing to get some scientist she was guarding on a merc job to translate some prophecy for her.

"The emergence can't seriously be happening now… Can it? It's not scheduled for another few millennia... Unless..." Fiona murmured.

She needed to tell Harvey, _fast_.

* * *

"Ma'am… I don't understand why I'm being dispatched with a special tactics loadout… I know I'm certified for it… But not why I'm using it nor why I'm being direct to you for the answer." Ziona stated nervously.

Captain Z.Z. stared back as she went over the records for the zone in question, the Human's gold eyes seeming to pierce the very fiber of Ziona's being. "Rookie, there's a reason even Zonic, Zhadow and Zilver look to me for advice, I've been part of the Zone Cops since before your _grandparents' great grandparents_ were born, and _I'm_ only here because of the crossover convergence in the few sub-zones that border between your prime dimension and mine.

Ziona looked at her feet, one constant of most iterations of C.C. throughout the omniverse was that they were largely immortal for one reason or another.

In timelines where Geass did not exist, it was because of something equally arcane, or perhaps more technological in nature.

"Just consider yourself lucky this isn't an SRT Convergence with the CG-class lines, those are such a headache to deal with because we end up crossing with dozens of other omniversal jurisdictions there. On the plus side, the heroes end up beating the everloving hell out of anything that is a real threat to the multiverse, so the problems get solved mostly by the 'natives' anyways." Z.Z. intoned as an alert for Lieutenant Zuattro Zajeena and Sergeant Zamille Zidan to report to launch bay four for transfer to SRT convergence Peter Sail Tare-3127723-Alpha/Three was issued by the PA system.

"That… Doesn't answer my question…?"

"You're going with the loadout because while any timeline we monitor typically involves giant god-like abominations empowered by chaos energy showing up at some point, this one also involves mental powers like you couldn't possibly believe, so having the suppressant implants fitted is probably a good idea since you have an integrated warp ring and emergency signaler in your gear."

"Oh… Right…" Ziona said as she saluted and was met by a dismissive handwave.

"No need to salute me kid, I've got seniority on pretty much the entire force."

"Yes Ma'am!"

Z.Z. groaned, this one was going to be difficult to break the mould of the academy she'd been set in.

Hopefully she could do it before 'by the book' got her killed.

["Would Officer Zudau Zashta please report to bay five to escort one of your counterparts _back_ to his dimension after a memory wipe?"] The PA system chimed in unhelpfully.

* * *

Sonic had stopped well short of Freedom HQ, causing C.C. to glance at him as he set her down.

["Why have we stopped."]

"I know for a fact that you aren't naturally aggressive like what I saw back there with Fiona, something's bugging you and I wanna know what."

For her part C.C. remained silent.

"Fine be like that, but if you try anything that gets one of my friends hurt or worse I'm ripping out your power core and using a chaos emerald to the bottom of the West Pacifica Trench" He snarled out the last portion.

C.C. scoffed internally there was no way Sonic would try that. She was too valuable to him and he wasn't the type to go to such lengths… Right?

C.C. _really_ didn't like the thought of being forced to spend eternity being crushed at the bottom of the sea, not after last time.

After what seemed like a moment of internal debate she finally spoke up again. ["I'll give you a sanitized rundown of why I'm so on edge with Fiona, not because I feel like it but just to get you off my back without revealing anything that could bite us _all_ in the ass later."] There was unusual heatedness to the way she said that which unnerved her, was her roboticization getting to her… God she hoped not, although it made sense, eating, sleeping, drinking, breathing, all those trivial things everyone took for granted almost made her feel _normal_ at times.

Without them and locked away in a body that processed information far faster than she could have ever dreamed of… She was honestly worried that it was driving her _insane_.

The very thought of _herself_ running around with an unhinged mind scared her like nothing else.

["When I was but a girl I was given the power of kings by a nun… This was during the old middle ages, not unlike how the Kingdom of Acorn was before the invention of the power rings, except it wasn't a result of a self-imposed ban on technology but rather a lack thereof and everything was generally a lot filthier as well because of human ignorance."]

"And…?"

["I was a neglected peasant girl, my family worked for the local lord on his land, honestly given how bad the times were I was lucky not to be sold for chattel…"] She shrugged. ["One day a disease swept through the village and my parents were among those culled out of fear of it spreading, leaving me, having been working in the fields at the time, alone in a harsh and unforgiving world… Put short, in the end, my one sincere desire was… To be loved…"]

It was, less than ideal for her to be so open with Sonic of all people about this, _Lelouch_ had only found out because of the mental link between a Bearer and their Contractor and even he didn't know the full story only what little he could clean from memories, but if she at least had to give the blue blur some information about Geass, she had to inform him via something that wouldn't damn her in his eyes like Mao, Marianne or Lelouch would have.

 _And_ it would get him to stop pestering her about it, allowing her to keep most of her secrets close at hand, so two birds with one stone.

Sonic winced at that portion, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to grow up in such an environment, he and the other freedom fighters had to thank their collective resourcefulness and sobering realization that they were the _only_ line of defense Knothole had that they weren't just helpless children caught in a hopeless struggle against Robotnik's military might.

"I'm guessing this power came with a caveat…" He said, trying to get her to take her mind off the painful memories.

["Indeed, at some point I lost control of my Geass… Making everyone near me except the nun whom I received it from into a thrall, whom could only love me so long as my Geass was active and reinforcing the waning influence of its continuous use… I hated it, it was so pointless in the end and I was tired of being worshipped by a bunch of mindless drones after my Geass 'matured'… So conveniently my contractor had an out for me… I just never quite imagined _how_ it would turn out…"]

"Lemme guess, she gave you immortality, then either ran off or died in the process and since I haven't seen you use your Geese"

["Geass"] She corrected.

"Your whatever thing, it got shut off or something due to whatever and then the angry peasant witch hunting mob trope occurred because the peasants were aware of what you did to them." Sonic remarked dryly.

["That about sums it up…"] C.C. shrugged, mildly impressed by his ability to make the connection.

"So that makes me wonder… What the hell is Eggman's innermost desire?"

["Power, control, I don't exactly know, we may have to visit an old Overlander city to find out more about Julius Kintobor… And what drives the man he became… But either way saying him getting a Geass is bad is the understatement of the past few millenium."]

"Wow, and here I thought that you couldn't say it like it is." Sonic muttered sarcastically as C.C. gave him the finger.

["Anyways if you're done being snarky... We should probably get to Freedom HQ…"]

"Yeah, I know." Sonic stated and picked up C.C. before carrying the Robian the rest of the way to the 'secret' headquarters of the Freedom Fighters.

* * *

Once inside and making sure the door was secure Sonic's hackles raised on end. "We're not alone in here…" He muttered.

"Indeed, you'd think that the headquarters of the most successful anti-Eggman resistance force would be more heavily guarded." A familiar sound-shifted voice announced.

Both Sonic and C.C. turned, the latter freezing mid-movement upon seeing the mask of Zero staring back at them.

"We have a bit to talk about before your friends arrive after all." The latest holder of the title of 'man of miracles' stated as they tapped a foot on the ground.


	8. Divergence

AN: I have no idea when I'm posting this one so…

* * *

Sonic and C.C. both stared down Zero whom simply sat gestured for them to sit.

Warily, Sonic plopped down on a chair while C.C. remained standing.

"So what's this about…"

"It is about Eggman… He is looking for something… Multiple somethings really." Zero stated.

"We've gathered that." Sonic confirmed.

"So I can see." Zero muttered offhandedly.

In all this C.C. stood there, stock straight and screaming internally.

Both gave her a glance before returning to their conversation.

"Say weren't we supposed to be meeting at Acorn Army HQ?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A simple ruse to throw off any third parties, they're waiting for a meeting that will never happen." Zero admitted.

"Clever…" Sonic noted as he glanced idly at his shoes.

"Back to my original point, Eggman has started taking an unhealthy interest in anything related to the Gaia Manuscripts, known as the Gaia Legends when outside their original written format, which are said to have chronicled an apocalyptic event that heralded the end of the Age of Gods." Zero continued.

Both Sonic and C.C. were immediately attentive because terms 'apocalyptic' and 'age of Gods'.

"What do you mean by Age of Gods…?" Sonic asked.

Zero simply cocked their head at C.C. as if aware of her identity. "The age that predated the age of man, where certain things that should be left buried were made, things he _also_ intends to dig up... What might be the end times are coming and we have little time to prepare to hold back the darkness which will sweep us away." Zero stated as if reciting facts.

Sonic stared at his feet, mumbling under his breath. "How long do we have."

"A few months at least, a year at best… Sooner if the report about the battle above Argentium sent by Ceneca-9009 to us is correct…" Zero sighed, Ceneca-9009 had taken an extreme risk to voluntarily send them data on the ongoing conflict.

"What about it, looked like the Xorda fighting off some other guys to me…"

"Reportedly a third party intervened in that conflict by raiding Xorda worlds, at least from what transmissions the Bem and our analysts could decrypt, this resulted in them being unable to reinforce their frontline fleets and presumably given their single-minded determination to kill _us_ , they're facing outright extinction by fighting a two-front war against two major powers. Hence why we're building up our air and space fleets to try and counter the inevitable victors of that war." Zero admitted.

"You think it'll be enough?" Sonic asked.

"No. Not by a long shot. Even with Eggman's help we barely survived the Xorda's last attempt. And that happened before he went batshit insane."

Nobody spoke for a while after that.

Zero checked a device on their wrist and glanced again at C.C. "My apologies, but it appears there is a matter requiring my attention." Zero stood and gave them a courteous bow. "Perhaps we shall continue at another time?"

"Fine by me." Sonic stated as he picked his nails while C.C. whacked him on the back of the head. "Ow what was that for?"

["Be polite idiot."]

Zero chuckled. "You two act like a married couple."

{"WE DO NOT!"} They shouted simultaneously.

Zero continued laughing as they walked out, Sonic's face red and C.C.'s cooling systems venting steam, unable to keep up with her embarrassment.

"Do we really…" Sonic started as Zero closed the door behind them.

["Finish that thought and they'll need that time traveling idiot to find the pieces of your ass."] She snarled, face still venting steam.

"Touche." He muttered.

* * *

"Understood… You tried, I did not expect a guaranteed victory against Ixis Naugus." The director stated as Sancia personally reported her failure.

[ _"Yes director…"_ ]

"In any case I need you to redeploy to Soumerca to investigate the loss of recon team Baker Seven, we received an aborted call on the emergency channels, but it's so badly garbled we can't make anything out."

[ _"At once sir, Irregular One out"_ ] Sancia said and hung up.

The director sighed and rubbed the forehead of his mask, Eggman has Knightmares, Naugus lives, the Black Knights are back in… No, he wasn't going there with that one, it was too cliché, but they were packing Hadron cannons anyways. And then there was at least one unknown Code Bearer that slipped past their net, a _nanite_ Knightmare, and all of that was on top of whatever or whomever killed recon team Baker Seven...

"Just fucking wonderful… Things were simpler when everyone hated me." He muttered.

"If you would my liege… Perhaps a personal investigation of the Soumerca incident would be necessary." His imposing guardsman mused, tapping his cybernetic arm against the wall.

"Perhaps… Very well then, we leave at once"

"Shall I have the Gawain Galatine prepared for you then?"

"Do so, and prepare my personal cruiser as well."

* * *

 _Shazamazon region of Southmerca, one day earlier._

Scourge vomited as 3.3. sang an all too childish and sweet tune, it would have been odd enough, but she was covered in the blood of the covert ops guys she'd just slaughtered with a fucking oversized machete, and he was actually pretty sure at least one of them had their soul sucked out in the process.

At least he thought it was at least one…

"Oh don't be like that, they couldn't be allowed to live because they'd have ruined the surprise."

"YOU'RE COVERED IN BLOOD!" He yelled.

"Oh… Well, that'll be a pain to wash out of this, and to think this was is the only copy of my old White Paladin's uniform I have with me too!" She pouted.

"You coulda just snapped their necks, why slash every major artery in their bodies along the critical weakpoints? Not only that but any Mobian with a good sense of smell can probably pick out the amount of _FUCKING BLOOD THAT'S EVERYWHERE!_ "

"Because it amused me~, I'm not here for your sake remember, I'm here because I'm _bored_." She twirled the machete a couple times and grinned psychotically.

"Yeah like you keep reminding me every ten fucking seconds…" Scourge muttered, almost wishing for Miles to be at his side, even if he was a traitorous scheming little bastard.

Why the hell did his zone have to be so fucked up?

"Come on! Let's keep moving!" 3.3. shouted as she _skipped_ along like a child, a 'child' with an immortal body that was physically 16 years old and dragging along a machete as half as long as she was tall.

"I should've just decided to stay content with controlling Moebius… Ambition like this is gonna get me killed." Scourge muttered as he followed her.

* * *

 _The Present._

Eggman tapped his arm console as his forces regrouped from the near disaster in the Dragon Kingdom, his Egg Knightmares had become a liability there, with the Iron Queen using them against his troops for a brief period before Mecha Sally obliterated them.

While powerful the fact that they could be turned against him was proof to him that diversifying his forces was the correct goal, the idiots who ran procurement for the militaries that had pre-dated the Xorda attack had intended to replace all of their combat machines with Knightmares far too soon, Fighter Jets, Gunships, and Tanks still had their roles, the former could outrun even the Lancelot Albion, Tristan, Siegfried and Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. in level flight according to data he'd recovered from old UFN and Britannian computer banks, and the latter two were ironically less expensive to keep maintained due to their more conventional equipment even if they failed to effectively fight Knightmares at close range, while APCs, dropships, and IFVs were irreplaceable due to their ability to carry infantry units.

["Doctor, the New Egg-Rus will enter mass production shortly."] Orbot reported as he and Bocoe monitored incoming data-feeds

"Excellent." The madman purred. "While high performance is nice, those Gloucester designs I used were simply too complex for the mass deployment I prefer, especially since they kept getting shredded, order all remaining Egg-Knightmares fielded and all future production units to be fitted with cockpit systems for the Egg Army."

["Why not the- OWW! Dark Egg Legion?"] Cubot asked as Decoe whacked him with a broom after getting to close to the main control console.

["Indeed Doctor, you haven't mentioned the Dark Egg Legion in your recent broadcasts."] Bocoe added.

"Simple my dear flunkies, the DEL Grandmasters are proving excessively untrustworthy, I can only really trust some of them and even then, only as far as our goals coincide. So, I am rolling them into the Egg Army as a shock force under the command of the Egg bosses. Lien-Da, Akhlut, Mordred Hood, and Conquering Storm will remain as independent forces, the latter three being given command of their own Egg Army units. With Lien-Da's Legion remaining as the Death Egg's elite shock troops."

["I haven't seen a shakeup like this since you retired the Egg Pawns!"] Decoe exclaimed.

"Indeed, I feel that this will be controversial but simplifying the command structure is something we need right now." Eggman sipped a glass of coffee and smirked, glancing at the display showing Snivley's prison cell, enjoying his nephew's torment.

Lien-Da walked in and saluted Eggman. "Mecha Sally is almost fully repaired and the additional metal series units are almost ready."

"Excellent, excellent, set course for Furville, it's time to get up to my old tricks again."

["Aye, Aye doctor! AVAST ME HEARTIES WE'RE GOING TO PLUNDER SOME BOOTY!"] Cubot shouted as his voicebox switched over to 'stereotypical pirate' as Orbot was trying to fix it.

Everyone on the Bridge facepalmed and groaned in unison.

* * *

Zero sat down in their personal quarters on the _Ikaruga_ , and adjusted the claps on their mask.

"So, the Grey Witch was there wasn't she." A mobian lioness said as she shined a sword idly, admiring the archaic French inscribed on the blade.

"And here I thought the notes my ancestors left were an exaggeration. Although the roboticization was unexpected." They muttered as they took off their helmet, the young human woman underneath looking at an ancient photograph mounted on the wall.

"Rather ironic that your ancestors tried to damn hard to kill each other over the course of the Black Rebellion only to end up together in one of the surviving cities when the Xorda bombed Earth." The mobian stated.

"Indeed. From what notes I can still read from that time it is easy to glean they barely tolerated the other on a _good_ day, all things point to them getting matched arbitrarily as part of a breeding program." She swept a lock of dark red hair out of her eyes and sat down.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures I assume, no less than me taking up arms against invaders backed themselves by another code bearer. Though to be fair, both she and I ended up being burned at the stake several times afterwards."

"Even still, what I don't understand is why those two in particular."

"Perhaps someone had a sick sense of humor? Or perhaps fate decided that their legacy must live on, who can say." She shrugged and continued polishing her blade.

Zero laughed. "Perhaps." She mused as she reclined back in her chair, going over a report on the attempt on Naugus's life. _'Few if any of the assassins seems to have been from the Republic of Acorn itself, although I cannot count out the Southern Boonies just yet… Still, it's a shame they didn't take out Naugus and make everyone's lives easier.'_ She thought as she contemplated the report.

* * *

C.C. glanced at Sonic. ["About those other things…"]

Sonic waved her off. "Not a concern right now, as much as planning should be a priority we have no idea how to do anything about either of those impending threats, our primary responsibility should be to get Eggman… Except… I'm not sure we have enough of a team left to face him… Or that I'm even up for that much of a task…"

C.C. sighed, a couple millennium ago she'd have made some smartass remark about that to try and remotivate him, but honestly, she couldn't even spare the effort.

Dying in and then surviving the apocalypse, living through the rebuilding of literally everything, and then being turned into a machine about a week ago tended to change a person didn't it…

["I'm not even going to bother, if you want to give up fine, but then Eggman wins without firing another shot."] She turned and walked away, passing Tails and Amy on their way in without a word.

C.C. sat back just outside Freedom HQ and watched the clouds roll by, anti-glare filters kicking in to block out the effects of direct sunlight.

Being mechanical did have advantages, however, the price just wasn't worth it.

A few minutes later she heard the grass crunch behind her. Looking over she spotted Tails whom smirked at her.

["What's going on?"]

"Sonic and Amy are going to make a request to the council, I have something I've been working on since the Death Egg attacked New Mobotropolis that I want to show you." Ge gestured for her to follow him to the hangars. The Robian Vixen standing up and loping after him, whacking her right leg in an attempt to loosen a stiff joint.

"I'll oil that for you if you want… I mean because you need maintenance… Not in any other meaning." Tails stuttered, realizing how that could be taken the wrong way.

["Stop while you're ahead, if it was Sonic saying that it would be a matter of seconds determining whether me or Amy hit him first."] C.C. remarked dryly.

"Right… A while ago I had NICOLE build some rapid fabrication equipment with nanites in order to build or repair our aircraft more rapidly without using Royal Army facilities in the event new Mobotropolis was seized." He flicked a switch after the two walked in, hangar lights blazing on to reveal a sleek white fighter jet sitting in the center of the bay. "So, with great pleasure, I present to you, the X Tornado!"

["You didn't think the Tornado was good enough?"]

"As much as I love her, she's got serious flaws, for one she's just too slow, no amount of super or turbocharging will let her compete with the newer GUN Jets that are coming into service now that the UF is actually bothering to take Military R&D seriously, let alone anything Eggman can bring to bear, a lot of the near misses I've had that didn't involve bailing out are more pilot skill or Sonic saving me than anything else. So while outright replacing her isn't an option, the X Tornado will be a great supplement, especially since the _Special_ is trashed for the foreseeable future." Tails chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"While she's admittedly not as maneuverable as the Tornado she has more room for growth and the engines are way more efficient, allowing for much improved range of operation." Tails explained. "Moreover, the larger airframe allowed me to add in more seating and weaponry, in addition to a few, other, tricks."

["What kind of tricks…?"] C.C. asked hesitantly.

He grinned as they walked out of the bay. "You'll know 'em when you see 'em."

Tails's wrist comm chirped. "I read you Sonic."

["Power up the Tornado buddy, we're heading to Furville, Baldy McNosehair is up to his old tricks again given that the Death Egg was reported heading in that direction."] Sonic reported.

"Roger that, I'll be there in ten minutes to pick you and Amy up." Tails responded to Sonic and then cut the transmission.

["You're not using the new plane?"]

"I don't know how many Gs a maneuver in the X Tornado will impose upon my body, I _was_ supposed to begin flight testing to gradually learn how it responded but…" There was a sudden twinkle in his eyes. "Maybe you could fly it for me as a backup… You did mention offhand one time that you were a capable pilot."

["I regret talking around you lot sometimes… Why exactly should I get in the untested screaming metal death trap? And don't say it's because I can't die, otherwise you'll be licking the surplus oil off my joints for the next year."] She warned.

Tails paled. "I was gonna say it's because G Forces don't affect you, the X Tornado has ejector seats so you don't need to worry about bailing out really.

["I still think this is a bad idea."]

"Well given the Tornado's recent streak of luck you'll be better off than I will…" Tails shrugged and walked off, leaving C.C. to go over the X Tornado's control manual.

["Can't be any harder than the Gawain, an Akatsuki or the Frontier…"] She mused and hopped into the cockpit of the jet, beginning to do the pre-flight checks as she heard the Tornado buzz into the sky. Sighing with an exhale of her exhaust fans, she powered on the aircraft and opened the hangar bay doors remotely and taxied the jet out to the concealed runway, the upper wings unfolding in the process, jetblast deflectors normally used by the _Special_ raising up behind on command as aircraft locked into the catapult. Edging the throttle forwards until it was at takeoff output she said a brief prayer and then signaled for catapult launch. ["I hate my life sometimes."] She muttered as the G forces slammed her back into the seat as she pulled up on the control stick and the X Tornado lifted off into the sky.

[ _"TOO LOW-TERRAIN!"_ ] C.C. swore and brought the engine power up and continued pulling back on the stick. [ _"DON'T SINK"_ ] She smacked the console as the GPWS kept droning loudly in her ear. ["No wonder Tails disabled this damn thing on the Tornado!"] She snarled as she looked for a possible way to increase her lift before finding a switch marked 'wing extension' and flipped it, the lower pair of wings unfolding as the engines simultaneously increased their thrust as the limiters disengaged, forcing her C.C. further back into her seat, C.C. realizing that even as a Code Bearer, if she wasn't a robian she might have been knocked unconscious by the sudden G Force, a sonic boom cracking out over the surrounding area as the X Tornado breached the sound barrier, something the old Tornado couldn't do due to the limitations of prop aircraft.

["Graaagh! Damnit!"] C.C. growled as she fought to bring the rapidly ascending jet under control before it stalled itself. ["FOR GOD'S SAKE THIS IS ABOUT AS OVERKILL AS ANYTHING RAKSHATA OR LLOYD MADE!"] Finally managing to lower the max thrust she looked at the power ring gauge to see that she'd only burned through two percent of her 'fuel' supply, sighing once more as she pointed the aircraft in the direction of Furville and checked her ECM. ["Eggman won't know what hit him alright, especially if I screw up and impact the Death Egg's bridge at Mach 2"]

* * *

Eggman stared down at a screen displaying Sonic and the rest of Team Fighters, tapping a finger on his console. Once again, his plans had been thwarted, although it appeared to him that the Freedom Fighters had hemorrhaged more members, leaving them down to three. Even that was more than enough trouble as the last Egg SWATs and Egg Gunners went down. "Deploy E-90 Number 23 to bombard the city to keep them occupied, and continue along our course to Soumerca."

"As you command doctor!" An ensign responded and tapped the launch key into their console.

Down in one of the Death Egg's hangars, a massive green craft launched out of the bay bearing two triple turrets, one dorsal and one ventral. The E-90 unit kicked on its thrusters and swiveled its lower turret at the city below.

* * *

"Oooh boy… That's a huge sucker!" Sonic snarked as he, Amy and Tails dodged the first strafing run.

"What're we gonna do!" Amy shouted. "None of us can even get close to it!"

Tails simply grinned as he checked his wristcomm again.

"You know something we don't?" Sonic questioned as he cocked an eyebrow at the fox.

A pair of missiles slammed into the E-90, followed by the X Tornado screaming over Furville at supersonic speeds.

"Heyyy! Now ain't that a sight!" Sonic chirped as the Jet banked and rolled away from a salvo of energy blasts, the damaged E-90 unit attempting to follow it but failing due to its greater bulk lesser maneuverability.

"Isn't it flying a little low?" Amy asked, panicking more than a little bit.

Sonic simply grinned and leapt into the air, bounding off a building and landing on the X Tornado as it passed by. "YO ROBO WITCH! GET ME CLOSE TO THAT SUCKER!"

["YOU'RE INSANE!"] She shouted back before doing as he requested, pulling a high G turn and firing a burst from the plane's rotary cannon into the upper turret of the enemy machine before Sonic jumped off and promptly spin dashed, by the time the E-90's computers realized the danger it was too late for the massive gunship to even contemplate evasive action as it struck metal slicing quills at nearly the speed of sound, Sonic using the craft's own momentum against it as he was forcibly burrowed through the hull, exiting just above the rear engines as the doomed robot careened out of the sky and crashed in the hills nearby, the X Tornado diving down and scooping up the hedgehog.

Sonic grunted as he made contact with the jet's airframe. "LITTLE ROUGH!" He shouted.

C.C. simply put up her left hand and extended her middle finger.

"LOVE YOU TOO ROBO WITCH!" He yelled sarcastically as she flew in a low enough pass for Amy, T-Pup and Tails to jump aboard, Tails getting in the rear seat in the cockpit and Amy taking a place in the rear passenger pod with T-Pup in her lap.

["I've lost the Death Egg on visual and their ECM is preventing a radar fix."]

"It's fine, we know where they're going next." Tails stated.

["Where?"]

"THE SHAZAMAZON BASIN!" Sonic shouted so they could even hear him.

["If I wasn't a Robian that name would have given me a brain aneurism."] C.C. snarked. ["Setting course for Soumerca"] She grinned trollishly as she looked at Tails.

"What are you going to do?" He asked hesitantly.

["Buckle in, we're going to beat Eggman there."]

Tails glanced back at Sonic who had already scrambled into the rear passenger capsule and buckled in.

["I see everyone is ready~ LUDICROUS SPEED GO!"] C.C. shouted before hitting a switch, the rear pod elevating and the engine pods moving up on joints just under it as a booster engine revealed itself from inside the main airframe and powered on, accelerating the X Tornado to mach 2 in record time as it followed after Eggman. C.C. quickly switching over to supercruise mode and then lowering speed to mach 1 to save on power ring consumption once they'd regained lost ground.

' _Soumerca… What is Egghead doing down there…'_ Sonic thought as Amy and Tails both decided to take a nap during the flight. _'Well whatever it is, we'll stop it.'_


	9. Derailed

AN: Ah my accursed lack of motivation has struck again, well no real excuses for why this one wasn't uploaded MUCH earlier.

Naturally I've decided this is where I'm fully derailing from the tracks the comics have set for me, some events might change, others might not even happen at all depending on how things play out.

* * *

Sonic yawned as he rubbed his eyes, the flight had still taken several hours due to fuel concerns after C.C. slowed down after achieving what she believed was parity with the Death Egg's speed. So Sonic decided to engage in what many other timelines was a pastime of his, napping. "How we looking Robo-Witch?"

["We're about five minutes out from the Wolfpack Nation but there's an issue…"] She reported.

"Is it the kind of issue that requires us to jump out of the plane…"

["Yes."]

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "An Egg Carrier plus escorts?"

["Affirmative."]

"And they've spotted us."

["Undoubtedly."]

"Bring it on." He stated confidently.

"We're gonna die." Amy muttered.

["Roger, begin LALO Jump in T-Minus… NOW!"] She inverted the aircraft and hit the canopy master open as T-Pup fell out immediately and was followed by Sonic, Tails, and Amy as their harnesses unlocked and sent them falling from the aircraft, C.C. rolled the plane away as the three Egg Fort Ones opened fire with their long range flak guns. ["I'll keep them busy while you lot warn Lupe. Or whoever is in charge I don't really care."] She radioed.

In all honesty by her personal code of whatever she deigned to follow, she really shouldn't be actively helping them. But then again there was something exhilarating about flitting around at Mach 2 in a high-tech fighter Jet that could fly rings around even the most advanced Knightmare Frames and aircraft the world had once seen, plus she'd gone for several _thousand_ years with literally nothing to do besides watch whatever squabble she was present for from the sidelines, waiting for any opportunity to suppress Geass related information firsthand, it got _really_ boring after the first five centuries.

Also there was the fact Eggman was a maniac and could not be allowed access to C's World _period_.

Shrugging, C.C. kicked the throttle up and dove straight into the fireworks, a few fighters from the Egg Carrier rushing up to face her.

Living metal twisted into a grin as the canopies sealed back up and repressurized.

["Here's where the fun begins."]

* * *

Sonic used his spin dashing to control his velocity and come to a safe landing on the ground below, a familiar 'whopping' noise indicated Amy and Tails were landing soon after.

Glancing over at a different noise, Sonic spotted T-Pup sniffing around, the robot having probably used his own built in flight abilities. "Alright you three, come on, we've got a bit of a trek to the Wolf Pack Nation!" He shouted as Amy and Tails groaned before getting up and following him, T-Pup barking at his creator's discomfort.

After trekking for several miles through the underbrush in the mountains, with the sounds of pitched air combat coming from back where the X Tornado was flying around, Sonic and co. finally entering the city after greeting the guards, who gave them some ceremonial headfeathers to wear and then proceeded to begin watching the skies nervously again as the quartet passed through.

"It's good to be back in the Wolfpack Nation isn't it? Just wish we didn't have to come bearing bad news." Sonic mused as they walked down a major street.

"It'll be fine, with Lupe and her troops backing us up, we'll finally be able to give Eggman another bloody nose for all the trouble he's caused us!" Amy stated confidently as she slammed a fist into her right palm.

"Hey guys… Is that Leeta, Lyco, and Lupe's kids?" Tails asked as he pointed at a pair of pink wolves, two wolf pups, and a pair of young overlander girls, Lupe's biological and adopted children respectively in the latter two cases.

"Sure is! Let's go chat 'em up and see what's going on! Hey Leeta, Lyco!" Sonic said as he waved over at them.

"Sonic?" Leeta said in mild confusion.

"Shh, they'll hear you if you speak too loudly." Maria warned from atop Leeta's shoulders.

"Who'll hear us? What's wrong Maria?" Amy asked, kneeling down so the young wolf could speak to her.

"It's the pack leaders, ever since someone kidnapped mama, daddy has been out of it and the others want to go to war with the Felidae." The pup stated.

"But the Felidae had to have been the ones who kidnapped her!" Marcos growled.

"Not their style kiddo, Felidae Warriors hate covert stuff like this…" Everyone stared at him, bemused by his sudden display of knowledge. "What? I pay attention to things." Sonic stated as an explosion rang off in the distance, an _Egg Fort One_ -class vessel burning as it began 'sinking' down to the mountainous terrain below, dozens of lights stabbing out from both the doomed vessel and the remaining ships in a cone of fire at a single target, undoubtedly C.C. in the X Tornado.

"She better not ruin my X Tornado…" Tails grumbled.

"You gotta admit, she's probably as good a pilot as you are." Sonic noted good-naturedly as he elbowed Tails softly.

Everyone else whistled and there were cheers in the distance from across the city at the mild interruption.

"Let's talk somewhere more… Discreet, where the Council won't try to rush to the window and somebody won't try to tell them Egghead's local suppression force got bloodied." Lyco suggested.

Sonic watched the airship impact and felt a tremor in his feet as it slid to a halt many miles away before something else exploded and a miniature sun blossomed in the distance as the warship exploded, before following the others away as a chorus of cheers drowned out the sound of their departure.

C.C.'s actual motivations for helping them were still an enigma to him, either she had it out for Eggman as well, she was bored, or she was _that_ concerned about his plans. He could understand the former two easily, but the latter unnerved him to a disturbing degree, if an immortal who'd seen entire nations sundered at the hands of conquerors and lived through numerous conflicts that resulted in the deaths of millions _and_ the Xorda's gene-bomb was this terrified of what Eggman was doing that she'd set aside centuries of indifference and indirect action in global affairs…

Maybe that Zero person was right… Some things should be left buried…

* * *

Eggman stalked through the halls of his Shazamazon base and walked up to the gate that set him on his quest to find that insufferable witch, standing there he knew that lack of either Code or Geass, he still wasn't sure which, was the only thing keeping him from being able to access the domain that lay beyond.

Without another word he turned and walked away, heading back to taunt Lupe again, the two _visible_ Mecha Sonic robots assigned to guard this place remaining still and silent as they stood there.

It was only proper that any who dared to seal off or destroy this gate to deny him access would find themselves dealing with _actual_ threats after all.

"Soon…" He muttered. " _Soon._ "

Heading back up to the command center Eggman frowned as he looked at the rather nervous command crew.

"Well, out with it, it's not like hiding it from me would do you much good anyways."

A Felidae Egg Army trooper looked around nervously before gulping and speaking up. "The regional patrol group was attacked while performing a routine strike against the Wolf Pack Nation… They reported heavy damage to the flagship and the total loss of one escort…"

Eggman raised an eyebrow, his drydocks could replace a lost Egg Fort within weeks considering they were manned by robots exclusively, even if it was just he himself building it with what he considered 'basic' equipment. "Anything else?"

"The attacker was the same fighter the E-90 unit we lost over Furville recorded."

Eggman grinned madly. "So they're here… Prepare a welcome wagon for them." He said as he walked back to oversee the preparations for Lupe's legionization.

"For who sir…?"

"Sonic and his merry band, who else?" Eggman replied with a wave of his hand and continued walking away.

* * *

C.C. sighed as she set down the X Tornado in a clearing to wait for Sonic and the rest, getting out and performing a check of the aircraft to patch up any combat damage before packing the landing parachutes back into their deployment module, folding the upper wings down and covering the aircraft in camouflage after putting covers over the engine intakes and exhausts to prevent small animals from trying to get inside.

"'Bout time you got down here, we've been waiting for… Five minutes!" Sonic snarked as C.C. threw him an idle glare.

["Yes, god forbid someone should make you wait for a twelfth of an hour. Whatever shall you do? Die of boredom?"] She jabbed back, rolling her eyes, if she was to be honest with herself, she enjoyed taunting Sonic, it meant she didn't have to dwell too much on how things changed.

"Yeah, yeah, either way we need to go save Lupe from Eggman."

["Well unless you get me another dozen plus power rings to burn through, we're not getting back to Freedom HQ or New Mobotropolis on our current fuel supply, I burned through too much of it trying to test the plane's limits against those airships."]

Sonic shrugged. "We'll add that to our shopping list when we hit Eggman's base."

["How far is it anyways…?"]

Sonic pointed at the temple not ten miles away.

["Has anyone told you how stupid you are sometimes? If I hadn't come down low and with ECM on I'd have been blown out of the sky."]

"You're the one who picked this clearing of all places to land the plane, there was a good enough one back there, if you didn't mind the tight squeeze."

C.C. began heating up again and clenched her fists but sighed with an audible hiss. He seriously got on her nerves in a way Lelouch or anyone else never could.

["Forget it… What's the plan of attack."]

"Well first we-" Sonic's explanation was cut off by an explosion in the distance and the sounds of gun and energy fire.

The hedgehog frowned. "Ames and Tails weren't supposed to start the party until I was in position, they were outside the patrol routes as well…"

["Which means someone else is attacking…"] C.C. guessed.

"Amy! What's going on over there!" Sonic radioed.

[ _"It's Scourge! He's smashing his way through Eggman's troops and he's got what I assume is our mutual friend's Moebian counterpart with him!"_ ] Amy reported as she smacked aside something with her famous piko piko hammer before an explosion signaled the end of the transmission.

Sonic and C.C. exchanged a glance. This was the worst possible news, Scourge alone they could handle, but a Moebian counterpart to a code bearer?

["We need to hu- _GAAAH!"_ ] Sonic had swept her up mid-sentence to rush her to the base. ["HEY! NEXT TIME GIVE ME SOME WARNING!"]

"You said it yourself, we need to hurry." Sonic's voice was all business, Eggman was one thing, Scourge was another, and with a wildcard to boot he was done fooling around.

* * *

"Director… We've intercepted a transmission." One of the bridge crewmen on the _Requiem's lament_ reported.

"Put it on." He ordered calmly, fingers crossed in a classic ambassador's pose as he sat on the ship's command throne.

[ _"DOCTOR, WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS! THIS MONSTER IS CUTTING US TO PIECES, WE'VE SHOT HER LIKE EIGHTY TIMES BUT SHE WON'T GO D-AAAGGHHHLLllkkkhhhh_ …"] The transmission promptly devolved into static as something crunched the transmitter.

"Do you think?" The director's personal bodyguard asked.

"It's not her, not her style, so either another more bearer or worse, whatever Moebian counterpart they have…" The Director stated. "Most likely the latter as Bearers tend to not stay standing, or intact for that matter, after taking that much fire, even if they can regenerate."

"Do you think she could be in the area?"

"Possible, Eggman is sitting on top of an Elevator." The masked man stated.

"Shall I tell Madd to deploy the Irregulars?"

"In their frames, at once, I will join them in the Galatine." He said with confidence.

"You haven't personally lead from a frame since…"

"You act like that matters to me." The Director said as he stood and walked to the express elevator to the hangar.

"You've miscalculated before, such as when M.M. got that Code instead of you, had the blade been slightly off it would have pierced your heart or an artery." The Cyborg stated.

"That was me not understanding the failsafes laden in both Code and Geass, it is impossible to maintain both simultaneously due to the fact that nobody should be trusted with that level of power, least of all myself…" He said with finality as the doors closed and the lift descended to the hangar deck.

"If he gets himself captured because of his arrogance… Well his half-sister is no slouch either I guess, we'd probably be able to free him in due time… WHAT ARE YOU LOT DOING, BACK TO WORK!" The man said before turning to shout at the bridge crew.

As they turned back to their work, he watched as the four KMFs of the Irregular squad launched from the ship's catapults and activated their float systems, followed mere minutes later by the Gawain Galatine.

"Good luck my liege…" He mused as the five KMFs flew off towards Eggman's base and the Death Egg.

* * *

[ _"Reverting in... Three, two, one."_ ]

A star post gate opened and Ziona combat dove out of it, aiming her arm mounted blaster around before realizing she was alone...

And in the middle of a desert...

"Oh son of a..."

The gate closed and left her stranded there, eye twitching furiously in anger as she remotely tapped into GUN's GPS network to figure out where the hell she was before hearing the sound of a handful of armored vehicles rolling up.

["Alright you, get on your knee and put your hands behind your head."] Someone ordered over a loudspeaker as two tanks and four tracked IFVs wearing Sand-Blasters markings rolled up, the latter vehicles dispensing more troops.

Ziona frowned. "I request you leave immediately before I am forced to take measures to defend myself..."

The Mobians all glanced at eachother before laughing their asses off.

"What? We've got you outnumbered _and_ outgunned!" One of them chortled as he flicked the safety off his pulse rifle.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

She activated the thrusters on her armor and leapt into the air, diving down on the formation of Sand-Blasters troops and scattering them like leaves in the wind as she punched and kicked them to the ground before dodging a cannon shell from a tank.

The tanks swiveled their turrets around, coaxial and pintle mounted machine guns blazing away.

 _"Armor analysis indicates they're made entirely of RHS... Pathetic, even G.U.N. maintains composite armor in this timeline."_ Ziona though as she turned on her arm mounted energy blades, scything the cannon barrels off both vehicles, rendering them useless without major repairs.

The Sand Blasters continued firing at her the entire time, between her armor's shields and their own panic they were of little threat to her.

"Again, I must reiterate that you should withdraw at this time."

She heard a faint whirring noise as a group of Knightmare frames, heavily based on Britannia's old Glagow arrived and aimed their auto-rifles at her, backed by additional IFVs and Tanks.

 _"I'm aware the Sand-Blasters had heavy armor but Knightmares should've been too mechanically complex for them since they don't even boast aircraft..."_ Ziona thought as the ex-Freedom Fighters surrounded her.

["This is commander Jack Rabbit of the Sand-Blasters, I suggest you power down your weapons if you know what's good for you, especially since you don't have much in the way of supplies methinks."]

Ziona briefly contemplated her situation before shrugging and powering down her suit's weapons, if the situation had changed to the point the Sand-Blasters faction had Knightmares of all things it meant the Great Desert was a flashpoint that she needed to keep an eye on, with luck her objectives would come to her.

["Smart choice."] Jack stated as two Sand-Blasters troopers wearing actual combat gear marched up and cuffed her, a formality since they weren't going to risk further hostilities by taking her armor.

Or at least Ziona assumed that was the reason...


End file.
